Recollection
by SublimeEchos
Summary: Sequel to the story Runaway. Alex is now two years older still trying to remember the ones she lost. Will she ever be able to recover her memory. What will happen when her present life and her past life collide? Can the fires of lost love and friendship burn again?
1. Authors Note & Characters

_**This is a character breakdown of characters you're going to see in this story, this is not the first chapter. You don't have to read this part but I would advise it if you need to know what characters look like. Enjoy.**_

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><p><span>Alex<span>: Our main character, now 18 facing life as a foot solider. This means she's still in the city after nearly two years since the invasion. She's still got long brown hair that falls a little past her waist but mostly wears it up in buns or in long braids. It has a natural wave to it when she wears it down. She still has her little freckles that trail across her nose and under her hazel eyes making her look much younger than she actually is. She still suffers from memory loss from the invasion when she was pulled out of the rubble by Karai but is regaining it slowly. She has come to remember April and Casey both very well, but can't pin-point Leo, Don, Mikey or Raph. She also has no recollection of Master Splinter, only the name. Since Alex is a part of the foot her clothes mostly are all black and her patrol armor resembles that of Karai's in her 2007 incarnation. She also has a mask that looks like Karai's in her 2012 incarnation. Alex still has her bo-staff but will also carry small daggers and even a bow and arrow on patrols occasionally.

Karai: In this story Karai is twenty, and will mostly look like her 2007 incarnation with what her hair, armor and mask looks like. She carries a small tanto with her and occasionally a katana. When she was younger she had come to know Leo every well and there was even a love interest at some point but faded away when Shredder left America and Karai had to take over what was left of the clan. She took Alex in as her sister and trained her to be her second in command. Karai knows that Alex was with the turtles before the invasion but refuses to tell her about them until she can regain her full memory on her own. Although, she does try and push Alex into remembering by taking her certain places that might bring back her lost memory.

Talon: He's been in the foot clan almost as long as Karai, and was raised by older members of the foot after being found abandoned in an alley-way. He's twenty just like Karai and is one of the foots best fighters. Although he is very skilled in combat he's instead pursued a medical route training to become one of t he foot clan doctors/medics. He was the foot soldier that was there when Alex woke up, and talked to her. After she regained her health eh started visiting more often and she was even his patient for the longest time. When she could train again their friendship started to grow, and they soon became best friends. Talon is tall, 6 foot with dirty blonde hair that he likes to keep short, eh also has piercing blue eyes that resemble Leonardo's. Even though Alex hasn't regained full memory of Leo she instantly takes onto Talon because she remembers what Leo was like and see's part of him in Talon. Talon goes on patrols with Alex and a small group every night, he wears the basic foot ninja armor but without those hideous mask's, instead the soldiers all have hoods to cover their faces, and their leaders wear the hood and masks. He also carries twin katanas just like Leo, but also will carry a crossbow and small daggers.

Murphy: New character. He's one of the five that patrol with Alex every night. Murph is the same age as Alex and looks just like Talon but has dark green eyes with freckles underneath them and is two inches shorter. Murphy was living in a foster home when the invasion started, the foster home was not evacuated and the majority of the children living there died. Murph rounded up a small group of kids and headed to the safest place he could think of, the hospital. When the foot found the hospital they also found Murphy and the group of kids started to be trained and were taken in as soldiers. Murphy was given a basic bo-staff when he started training and still carries it with him along with throwing stars. Murphy is also the clown of the group, resembling a personality like Mikey's, leading Alex take onto him as a brother almost.

Jax: Jax is the tech guy, and at the age of 19 he knows everything you need to know about kraang technology and your basic computer. He's been a big help to the clan, powering the electric back on and even getting heat running through the hospital. He's about as tall as Talon and has dark brown hair falling just about his eyebrows. His eyes are dark chocolate and he wears special glasses that he made specifically for himself that resemble Donnie's glasses in the 2014 movie. Jax joined the foot clan when he was 14 and moved to the city with his Aunt after his parents died in a car accident. His Aunt used to beat him and abuse him so he eventually packed up a small bundle of his things and ran away, finding himself surrounded by a group of foot soldiers on dark night. They took him in after seeing he posed as no threat and he became one of them. He carries a yari which is a spear, an unusual weapon choice but he's very skilled with it.

Grant: The brute force type of guy, he's twenty years of age and is pushing five foot eight. He's very muscular and has short caramel colored hair. He has amber brownish eyes with a small scar running down his left cheek. He's very tough but can be caring and kind at times. He joined the foot clan when he got out of juvey and his family disowned him, leading him right into the arms of the clan. He's one of the soldiers that helped pull Alex out of the rubble during the invasion. He carries a kraang blaster he managed to loot from TCRI back in the day and he also carries an axe that's strapped to his back at almost all times. Alongside Talon, he's also one of the clans best soldiers.

Pepper: Pep is 19 and is as tall as Alex. She's very thin but is strong for her size. She has shoulder length hair that has been colored navy blue that she mostly keeps up in a tiny knot on her head. Before she was in the clan, she was raised by the purple dragons and has the tattoos to prove it. A long tattoo of a dragon circles down around her arm and the head stops right below her elbow. She claims she was forced to get the tattoo and she has scars on her skin where she actually attempted to cut the permanent ink off. When she couldn't take anymore of the gang violence , she joined the foot clan and liked it a lot better. She still has a long lost grudge on the purple dragons and is always looking to get her revenge. Though nobody knows the awful things they did to her, no one asks. Pepper carries twin kamas and when the patrol group goes into dragon territory she carries a katana.

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><p><strong>AN: If any other characters are introduced they will have their description in the story. Turtles can be any incarnation you want them to be, but April and Casey will look like their 2007 version except younger and not living together. April is 18 and Casey is 19. Leo is 20, Raph is 19, Don is 18 and Mikey is 17. Keep and eye out for the first chapter and I hope you guys like this story. (: Shoot me any comment of reviews as to what you think/ want to see so far. I take into consideration anything.** **Also I tried to have all my characters have distinct characteristics, hope you like them.**


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter One._

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><p>Three knocks accompanied by yelling coming from the hallways, it wasn't enough to even get her up anymore. Two years of getting used to the foot's customs and you kind of just brush things off after a while. In her head she told herself it was time for patrol just like every other night, but instead of waking herself up, she allowed herself to simply roll over on her side tugging the blanket up around her.<p>

Once more there was knocking. "Alex time to go! Let's get moving."

With a grumble knowing deep down she couldn't escape the nightly routine she rolled out of bed placing her bare feet on the cool tiles. "Coming." She said in a half yawn that the person on the other side probably couldn't even hear.

Five minutes later she had her patrol attire on and was fumbling with the laces on her boots, slipping a small dagger in the side for easy access. When she stood up she went over to the mirror to make sure everything was in order, or else she'd really hear it from Karai. She had to admit, she really was growing on the color of her armor. All black was in a way flattering, it made her look curvier than she actually was and a bit slimmer.

Another knock came on her door and she just rolled her eyes. "I'm Up!" She yelled. Fastening her bo-staff to it's holder on her back she opened the door that led to the hall-way and let it fall shut behind her.

The halls were filled with foot soldiers in uniform all going over what was on the list for patrol routes tonight. It really got confusing after a while in terms of who was who because of the same color uniforms but you come to identify people by what weapons they carry with them. Talon, out of the hundreds of foot soldiers here, was the only one to carry twin katanas. He was the first one she saw in the crowded hallways. Jogging over to him she realized he had already rounded up her patrol group for her, he knew how lazy she could be sometimes, and agreed with her that the patrols were messing up everyone's sleep schedules. But in turn him and everyone else agreed to follow the patrol times in fear of the wrath of Karai.

"Speak of the devil." Talon whispered as Alex got to the group of five.

" Ha. Ha, So what's tonight's route, or do I even have to ask." She said rolling her eyes. Karai had been assigning Alex to take her group down the same route for two months straight now.

"I think I could run this route blindfolded by now." Pepper said crossing her arms over her chest.

"Jax?" Alex said looking to him for answers on what other routes were open for the night.

"But Kar-"

"What she doesn't know wont hurt her." Grant said becoming restless to leave the hospital.

Jax was probably the shyest of the group but he was coming around, offering up ideas occasionally and even cracking a joke here and there which was usually Murphy's department. "Well we could take the old harbor way, no one's been posted down there for about a month." He said checking the tiny screen of the tablet he built for himself.

On the tablet were all the programmed routes the foot had ever taken and they were all labeled with different names or numbers. Often times when Jax would offer up some scientific reasoning or just a fact in general surrounded by all his tech gear, he reminded her of someone but she many times pushed her memories away. After being able to remember April and Casey in detail, she found herself not wanting to know more. The rest of her so called "family" Had abandoned her in her greatest time of need. She was scared of the past because she was afraid of it only making the hurt worse. So day after day she'd spit out the same facts of things she remembered to Karai that she had been repeating for two years now.

Hate built up inside of her toward the family that left her behind. She couldn't understand why they left her to be crushed under the building. Most of all she couldn't understand the array of emotions that flooded to her over these people. Some brought love, and amazing friendships. So why would they leave her during the invasion to die?

"Let's go then." She said heading for the elevator to take them down to the first level. Talon was quickly by her side as she entered the elevator and she smiled. _At least I have a new family _she though to herself as the rest of the group piled in.

When they reached the door to leave they pulled their hoods up as Alex followed putting hers up, along with her mask. As the door slid open the cool air of May slid in making her smile. The hospital smelled like leather and metal, the outside air was a delicacy when patrol time came around. "Lead the way Captain." Murph said nudging Alex with his elbow.

Two years and Alex had proven herself worthy to be part of the Clan. Karai has risen her up to second in command, letting her take her own handpicked patrol group out every night. Karai also gave her a mask, one of her old ones form when she was 15 but it still symbolized to outsiders that she was the leader, and a force to be reckoned with. Karai also had a mask, much more intimidating and it covered her whole face instead of just her nose and below.

"Alright guys, lets go." She said as she started for the nearest rooftop.

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><p>Alex's P.O.V.<p>

The kraang were still in the city, but not in the numbers they had before. When the Invasion was over the navy rolled out leaving the city to fall to the hands of any poor soul who had been mutated when the kraang were in control. It's was kind of nice, having the whole city mainly to yourself, everyone was evacuated from the city so the only living things still here are the foot clan, mutants, the kraang and the stubborn yet surviving purple dragons.

As I recalled the day standing on the rooftops watching the Navy leave the city, I felt a cool hand on my shoulder. "You look a little pale Al." Pepper said handing me her jug of water. I gladly took a sip and thanked her.

I quickly headed up the stairs of the fire escape, followed by my patrol group. When we reached the rooftops I stopped halting everyone with me. "What way again Jax? God I can hardly remember anything but our routine path anymore."

Quickly Jax pulled out his tablet and began tapping at the screen. "Just head north of here and it should put us right on route. Just a b-line to the harbor and back." He said as he looked up from the glowing screen.

"K, let's go." I motioned for everyone to split off, like normal and fan out as we covered the area. If we could cover the entire area to the harbor I made the deal we could take it easy on our way back. Pepper and Murphy branched off to the rooftop beside us as Grant and Jax took the rooftops on the other side. Talon always stayed with me, even though I told him he's better paired with Grant. He always told me I was his responsibility and he would protect me at any cost, only to then push me around and taunt me.

Some nights when he knew I wasn't sleeping he'd sneak into my room and bring a deck of cards or even a smuggled carton of ice cream from the cafeteria. He always knew how to make me feel better, often times when I used to have a hard time remembering my past I'd cry on his shoulder about it for hours it felt like. He always told me that maybe me not being able to remember was a gift from God, maybe it was better I couldn't find my lost memories of the people I once knew. The day he told me that was the day I stopped trying to recall what had happened. That day was over a year ago and I haven't thought about them since hardly.

Occasionally I'll catch a glimpse of blue or purple in someone's clothing or in the hues of the sunset and these people who I once knew come knocking on the back of my head, pushing me to let them in. In turn I keep them locked up, no one gets out, I force my brain into thinking they were awful people, that they can't be trusted, that they're probably dead. Anything to make the pounding headaches and sleepless nights stop.

Jumping the from roof to roof I look back on what my life used to consist of. This is what I've come to figure from my lost memory. I had first met Casey Jones, he was tall with dark hair and he claimed to be a vigilante. He was a hockey player and that's how I met April. She was at the hockey rink Casey had invited me to the night I met him. April had red hair, and a while down the road we became best friends.

Felling the rush of wind circulate through my hood I let my emotions get the best of me. April, I missed her so much. Part of me wanted to find her, I felt like if I could just see her maybe everything could come back to me, even the four I have yet to recall. The other art of me wanted nothing to do with her. I knew she wasn't the one on the rooftops that day looking down at my broken body under the head of rubble, but part of me wanted to still blame her. To blame everyone in that trust circle I used to have.

I took the next landing harder than before and paused before I continued. Talon stopped and put his arm out to steady me, I pushed him away. "I'm fine." I said letting my breath catch up to me. I looked over to the rooftops on both sides of me, my group members had also stopped and were watching me with worried eyes. I waved my hand forward to signal them I was fine and that they should keep going. They lingered for a moment but a second later followed my orders and pursued towards the harbor.

"You're thinking about her again, aren't you." Talon said resting his arm on my shoulder.

I didn't answer him I just removed my mask and looked him in the eyes.

"Let's just finish the route." I said putting my hands up before he could protest.

As we reached the harbor my team was already there waiting for me. I knew the questions were about to begin and I prepared myself. These five knew about what happened to me, and I was open to telling them anything they wanted to know unless it went too far.

"What happened?" Murphy said walking up to me with concerned eyes.

I looked back at the other three, Jax was looking over my body checking for any wounds or sprains while Grant just shook his head.

"It's April." Pepper said taking a spot next to Murphy. "You've been thinking about her all week I can tell."

I look at her with confused eyes. _How does she know.._

"Is this true?" Jax said.

"We should head back guys." I said turning around.

"If it's her you need to tell Karai, she can help." Talon said grabbing my arm.

I held my ground but wouldn't look back to face him. "We're going back now and that's an order." I said trying to stay as calm as possible. I wasn't open for questions tonight. We were going home, Karai was probably expecting us anyway.

Grant was the first one by my side, as always when I gave an order. Karai added him to my group because she believed I needed extra protection, and he really did come in handy sometimes. As we set off for home Talon went with Jax while Grant stayed with me on our roof. I liked Grant, he mostly stayed quiet, only being here on strict orders, he was guarded and only let a few people in. One of them was me. He became one of my closer friends, though we never hung out like Talon and I did, we trained together, pushing each other over the edge and back. He was a little cocky at times, and especially arrogant but I had a soft spot for him.

As we reached the platform to climb down the fire escape back to the hospital Grant pulled me aside. "If you ever need anything I'm always here for you, not just for your protection." He said flashing me a half grin before he turned to climb down the stairs. I just smiled. If Talon wasn't on my side, I could always count on Grant being there.

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><p>As I laid in my bed, already in my pajamas I heard one knock on the door. My life was one big routine mess. Karai let herself in after I didn't respond and shot me one of her looks when she knows something's up. "Alex I heard you didn't take your scheduled route."<p>

"If you're here to punish me can we do it tomorrow, I'm to tired for pain tonight." I said rolling over in my bed.

"I'm not here because of that. Pepper told me..."

"Of course she did." I said mumbling under my breath. I loved Pepper but she was quick to go behind my back and do something I didn't ask her to. I knew she was just trying to help but my god the girl couldn't keep a secret if her life was in danger.

"Alex, If your memories are bothering you again you need to tell me."

"They're not bothering me. I just can't stop thinking about the girl."

"Who April?" Karai said walking over to my bed and taking a seat on the edge. "Have you tried meditating? It might help clear your mind a bit." She said crossing her legs.

"I've tried everything. I wish I never even met these people. I wish I had just been taken in here when I came to the city."

Karai just sighed putting her hand on my shoulder, and was interrupted before she could say anything.

A knock fell on the door and a foot soldier entered. "Yes?" Karai said sharply rolling her eyes at me.

"Sorry to interrupt, but he's back Karai." He looked worried.

"Who's back?" I said quickly getting no one's attention. It was like I wasn't even there now.

Karai walked over to the soldier and they started whispering. The only I thing I heard in the whole conversation was "Night watcher" and then I decided to drown them out. I was getting tired, and agitated Karai couldn't take her business elsewhere.

"Get a patrol going and see what you can find out, don't pursue him unless necessary."

"And what if he engages us?" The soldier asked back.

"Then kill him." She said in a hushed voice. Karai had her good side but she could be morbid at times, often enjoying others pain and suffering. She loved to taunt people, especially the purple dragons who were easily made fun of.

With a nod the soldier left. "What was that all about? I asked sitting up in my bed.

"Alex, we'll talk about this tomorrow. I have to go."

Before I could confront her she was out the door. Maybe it wasn't anything I had to worry about, I just hoped this wouldn't mean we'd have to start running more patrols because of this night watcher guy. My eyelids started to feel heavy and I pulled my blanket up around my shoulders the warmth was comforting and familiar. As I drifted off to sleep I thought about April. I had the feeling she was still alive and I felt myself getting more and more anxious. I needed to find her. Maybe she held all the answers. April O'Neil, lost just like my memories. How could I ever find her, was she even still in the city?

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><p><strong><em>AN: So here's the first chapter to the sequel! Reminder: All character info is in my authors not in the beginning of this story so if you need to know something about a character just go back a chapter. Tell me what you think I love reading the reviews you guys leave! Sorry if this chapter was a little bland but I promise it's only leading up to something bigger (:_ **


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two.

"Ouch"

"Sit still!" Pepper yelled as she pulled my hair into a tight braid. I forced myself to limit my protests to small whimpers and yelps when she pulled a little too hard.

"Done!" She chimed lacing the hair tie at the end of the braid.

"Thank God." I said under my breath.

We sat in silence for a moment as I tugged at my braid trying to make it more loose, only to have my hands swatted away. I could feel a headache growing from the pain. But you know what they say, beauty is pain and the braid did look quite pretty.

"So what are the plans for tonight?" Pepper said taking a seat in the desk chair across from my bed.

"Karai said something about taking me out. I don't know where but I can assume it's not a five star restaurant." I said picking the pealing red paint from my finger nails.

Pepper just laughed under her breath. "What about tomorrow night, any info for me?"

"What about tomorrow night? I know as much as you know. Karai keeps me in the dark about everything." Tomorrow night was one of the big meetings with the dragons, they took place every three months just to keep our terms and agreements. The truth was the gang had accumulated more members than we originally thought, any wrong move and the hospital could be under siege.

Pepper let out a sigh. "I wonder if Karai would let me tag along."

"You know that's never going to happen. If you came we'd have a war on our hands, you're too unpredictable to control in that place." The truth was Pepper had once been in the gang, she had the long dragon tattoo that circled her arm to prove it. I know she left, and she has the scars of gang violence written all over her body, but I don't know what they did to her or why she seeks revenge on them. Part of me doesn't want to know.

"Whatever." She said smirking at me. Just then a knock came on my door and Karai entered wearing her patrolling uniform, we probably looked alike from the back, that's how similar our gear was.

"Ready?" She said.

"Yeah, yeah." I said lacing up my boots. "Cya Pep."

I grabbed my bo-staff and headed out the door trailing behind Karai.

"So where are we going?" I asked falling in step beside her.

"You'll see." She said giving me a smirk before putting her mask up. I copied her with my mask and followed behind her as she exited the safety of the hospital.

Once we were on the roofs Karai stopped and took her mask off. "Tell me what that building is." She said pointing to a skyscraper within walking distance.

"Easy. TCRI" I said with confidence. Without warning Karai slid her mask back up and took off across the rooftops. I just let out a sigh and pursued her, another one of her games.

I felt like I had been running to catch her for at least twenty minutes, until I saw her halt on a distant rooftop waiting for me. Out of breath I jogged up to her shaking my head in disapproval. "What are we playing tonight? Run until you feel like you're going to blackout? Cause I think I'm winning."

She just chuckled, then turned her direction to the fire escape and started towards it. "Come on." She said making her way down. I hadn't even taken the time to look around the part of the city I was in. As I climbed down the fire escape I realized Karai was no where in sight and a window was open. I just shook my head and climbed through. Inside I could make out certain shapes of furniture and eventually spotted Karai sitting on the couch.

"What are we doing in here." I said fining my way over to her.

Before I could even sit down on the couch the lights came on and I realized Karai was now propped up against the wall. "Funny the power still works after two years." She said.

As I sat on the couch I realized instead of being used for lounging the couch was instead a makeshift bed, and in fact the apartment was semi-empty. "Why'd you take me here." I asked looking around to try and find out what she was up to.

"I'll tell you when you find out for yourself." She said giving me a wicked grin.

I lifted myself up off the couch and took out my staff. As I walked down the hallways it was eerily quiet and I half expected something to jump out at me. When I reached the first door I slowly opened it waiting for some mutant to jump out at me. Nothing was there except and empty bedroom and suddenly I felt Karai behind me pushing me inside.

Once inside I flicked the lights on and saw the room come to life. Only a lone dresser and chair sat in the corner. I walked over to it out of curiosity, did Karai plant something here for me to find? I let my fingers dance around the knobs of the drawers and across the top where no sentimental objects lay, only dust. I slowly opened the top drawer and heard Karai sigh starting to lose her patience with how slow I was.

In the first drawer was a bunch of tee-shirts, some plain, some with graphics. I sifted through them looking for whatever Karai had left for me. Nothing. I moved on to the second drawer, and sorted through the pants, same with the third drawer with the hoodies. I gave an annoyed look back at Karai and went for the fourth and final drawer. It jammed as I tried sliding it open and I quickly became violent with it out of frustration.

"Karai if you dragged me all the way here for nothing, God so help me I'l-"

The drawer broke free making me fumble for my balance. I quickly got down on my knees and peered in. Inside was an upside-down picture frame, and an old leather strap that looked like it could hold a sword. I pulled out the strap first and ran my hands along the rough leather, something about it drew it to me but I pushed the urge away and set it down. My fingers trailed over the back of the frame before I turned it around to see what was behind the glass. In the picture was a young man holding a baby girl. I gave Karai a confused look and she shook her head. "Look carefully." She said pointing to the picture.

I looked closer. Then I realized the young man was my uncle and I ran my fingers over the glass. "This is me then." I said my back still turned to Karai.

"Yes."

I set the picture on top of the dresser and went through the drawers again. Everything was my size.

"This was my old apartment..."

She just smiled at me and threw me an old backpack. "Get everything you need here, we're not done yet."

I quickly packed away some shirts and a hoodie and grabbed a pair of nike leggings. I put the picture and the leather strap in another pocket and slung the pack over my shoulders.

Once outside again I looked for Karai who was already on the roof again heading towards our next destination. After running for a much shorter period of time I stopped behind Karai on a roof overlooking the city. "Where are we." She asked.

"I don't know" I said trying to find a building I recognized.

"Not the buildings Alex, what happened here?" She said pointing to an alley-way below.

Something came to mind but I couldn't decipher it. "I have no clue." I said.

"Wanna know how you got that scar?" She said trailing her finger down my stomach with a grin.

Just then a flash of a giant claw boring it's way through my skin flooded my mind. "He killed my family..." I said in almost a whisper as I saw the giant mutant in full now. Anzo.

"Long gone now." Karai said resting a hand on my shoulder. "You died here, but for some reason were given a second chance."

I looked down into the alley-way, just two years ago I had laid there lifeless, although I couldn't remember how I had managed to regain life, or even how I was found. Did I just wake up and walk away unharmed? "How do you know so much about my life." I asked Karai bluntly. She had obtained so much knowledge about me that I didn't even know about myself, so the question was, how?

"Lets just say I was assigned to watch you when Shredder was still in control. He wanted to know who you were and why the four took you in under their wings."

"Did Shredder have some kind of falling out with them?"

"You could say that." She said turning her back to me.

So Karai had kept an eye on me, cool. That only meant she knew much more than she was giving off. She knew why the family who had abandoned me did not seek me out after the invasion, and she knew who they were personally. She watched my struggle to regain just a mere thought of them and tried so hard to be there for me. This was her way of helping, by taking me to places that had I had some tie to.

"Come on lets head back home." She said starting for the next roof over.

"Race ya back." I said sprinting past her with a smirk.

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><p>The next morning I woke up to someone pounding on my door.<p>

"What is it?!" I yelled, still tired and now irritated.

"Awee, come on Al. It's almost noon and you've spent half the day in bed."

I rolled over to assess my alarm clock, it was quarter of noon, and no one had woken me up. Miracles really do happen I guess. I rolled out of bed and walked up to the door. In the hallway stood Talon, tall as ever holding a backpack. "Morning sleeping beauty." He said looking down at my ratted hair I had left in a braid overnight.

I just rumbled and started to shut the door but was stopped by a black leather boot. "What do you want Talon." I said. "Today's my day off, and I have an important meeting tonight."

"It's my day off too, I thought we could chill."

I raised an eyebrow as he pulled pack of wine coolers from his pack.

"It's the only thing I could find." He said zipping it back up. "You in or no?"

"Hold on."

I shut the door to change, I figured it would be hot out, it was almost summer and what was the point in wearing patrol gear? I let my wild hair free from it's braid and watched as the wavy mess covered my back. I slid on some gym shorts and a tee and slid my bo-staff over my shoulder and headed out the door.

I was right, It was hot out and the sun was showing no mercy. Talon and I climbed to the top of a distant rooftop and sat down on the edge of the roof.

"Cheers to surviving this awful mess we call our lives." He said twisting off a cap to a peach drink. I did the same with a mango flavored bottle and shook my head smiling.

It felt like the sun kept getting hotter as the minutes passed into hours. Talon kept rambling on about his life In the medical wing of the hospital but I tuned him out after he started talking about a foot solider who had their leg bitten off by a mutant. Somewhere in the distance the city folk had begun to restart their lives, moving in with family members and taking up new jobs. So why was I stuck here so keep watch over the rotting city. Suddenly my trance was broken when Talon shook me saying something about spotting a person on an adjacent rooftop. Of course this was normal seeing that the foot were free to roam when they were off patrol and four bottles of fruity drinks weren't helping Talon's thought process very well.

"It's just other foot members Tal, calm down." I said trying to get lost in my trance again.

"No, I know what I saw." He said getting up taking out one his twin katanas strapped to his back.

Suddenly Talon went from harmless to armed and dangerous as he started out across the rooftops.

"Talon stop!"

He just shushed me and kept in pursuit, so I decided to play along, putting my mask up, staying behind Talon. We crossed onto the roof he had saw this person and he went full patrol mode.

That's when I realized he was right. I young man stood on the roof with his back turned to us holding a duffel bag full of what I assumed to be rummaged caned foods from the below stores. He didn't belong to the foot and we were ordered to contain any gang members outside their turf, did this one not know the rules we had setup?

On the ground next to this person there were two hockey sticks and a baseball bat. "What are you doing on our turf." Talon said in an authoritive voice making the man jump to face us. I looked at his arms and saw no signs of gang markings and wondered if normal citizens still lived in the city.

"Who are you." The man said. His voice sounded muffled, that's when I realized he had a mask on.

"Who are you?" Talon asked back pointing his katana at the guys heart.

"I asked first."

"Tell me your business here or I'll put this sword through your ribcage."

I couldn't tell, but something told me behind the mask this guy was smirking._ Arrogant_ I thought, _He's gonna die today._

"Talon let's go, it's not worth it." I said standing behind him tugging his katana strap. He held his ground.

As quickly as I had turned to leave The masked man had picked up a hockey stick and had disarmed Talon. Out of instinct to protect my people I unsheathed my staff and struck the man down, his mask fell off in the process revealing a young man, probably Talons age lying with his arms over his side where I had struck him. He had long black hair and looked like he had been through a war the past two years, but hey, hadn't we all.

I turned to tell Talon to start heading back home, but the young man had gotten back to his feet.

"Can't knock me down that easy." He said with a stuck up looking smirk. The "I'm better than you and always will be" Kind of look. A look I had once known. A million images came rushing through my mind like a tidal wave. A piece of my past stood right in front of me, and I hadn't even realized it.

I took a step back from him, tying to clear my though process. A perfect window of time for him to attack. He had knocked my legs out from underneath me, sending me to the ground and a sharp pain shot up my arm as I landed on it.

"You're gonna regret that scumbag." Talon said zeroing in on my attacker.

Without even knowing I jumped between the two as a blade came across my cheek only leaving a stinging sensation. It had all happened so fast Talon couldn't have known I would become his victim even if he only left a scratch. He looked destroyed and angry at the same time.

"Move" He said in a choked voice.

"No" I said putting my bo up to his katana. "We're leaving before someone ends up dead."

I started to push Talon away and he finally gave in and followed me to the hospital.

"I'd stay away from here for a while if I were you, just try and stay safe." I said with pleading eyes, he didn't know who I was, maybe it was best. I mean I hadn't taken my mask off the entire fight so how could he have known.

As We reached the second roof over I heard him call out to me.

"Hey, wait! Do I know you from somewhere?"

I Ignored him and kept Talon moving towards home. A single tear escaped my eye and I quickly wiped it away.

Once behind closed doors Talon turned back to me. "What was that all about?! I could've killed you if you had gotten just a little closer." Apparently the drinks he had earlier had worn off completely.

"I wont let you kill harmless people!"

"He had the intent to hurt us! What happened to show no mercy Alex!"

"Doesn't apply to citizens of the city."

"He was on our turf, we had every right to get rid of him, instead you stood there like you were frozen. What was going on!?"

I hated arguing with my best friend, but it happened so regularly over the dumbest things I became accustomed to it.

"Nothing. It was nothing. I'm sorry but he wasn't a purple dragon, so he wasn't a threat." Before He could come up with some snarky remark I walked off to my room. I heard him grumble in disapproval but shook it off. I needed to get some things straight.

When I got to my room I saw my patrol gear had been laid across my bed for me for the meeting with the dragons tonight as well as a katana in it's sheath. A note laid on top of it.

_"I'm trading in your wooden stick for a real weapon tonight. Be at the lobby by midnight. -Karai" _I just moved the gear aside and sat down on my bed with my head in my hands trying to sort out the jumbled mess in my head.

There were two things I knew for sure now.

One: I couldn't tell Karai what had happened on the roof.

Two: Casey Jones was alive.

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><p><em><strong>AN: I hope this story is living up to everyone standards, If you have any questions of comments be sure to leave them in my inbox or in the reviews. (: **_

_**Thanks for reading(:**_


	4. Chapter 3

_**WOW I am so proud of this chapter, one of the longer one's I've done so far and probably on of the hardest to write. I hope you guys like it and make sure you leave reviews, I love reading them. I think most of you are going to like this chapter...hopefully. (; Without further interruptions, I present chapter three.**_

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><p>Chapter Three.<p>

I couldn't quite get it through my head that I had just been face to face with someone I knew years ago. Someone I had once called family. Time had caught up with him, and his teen years had come to a screeching halt. Long black hair, defined muscles, toned body. He had certainly grown out of his bean pole figure, and added a few inches to his height. But what about him made me feel like there was no connection between us anymore. It was as if all former ties had broken off and he had moved on from the incident that had left me with amnesia, and a broken body. Was it the scars that ran along his arms and legs? Or was it the shadow of death that loomed over him. The past two years had not been friendly to Casey Jones.

Somewhere off in the distance a clock chimed, like it did at the top of very hour. I just led my body slide farther under the soapy bath water. Tonight was a huge night for me. Keeping rules and boundaries set between the gang and the clan never went smoothly, and I had to be prepared and on top of things. So why was I soaking up warm water, letting my mind wander when I should be ready to meet Karai by now. How could I just up and erase the experience I had just a few hours ago from my mind. He was close enough to me to touch, yet at the same time he was stranger to me. Maybe somewhere it clicked in him that he had known the faint presence of me somewhere beneath the roof of a hockey arena, but he didn't show any signs of recognition until I was already rooftops away.

I flicked the plug from its drain in the tub and I sat there until all the water had escaped me. I finally took a deep breath and urged myself to get up and get ready. I could already tell this was not going to be a good night.

Within minutes I had managed to get on all of my patrol gear and braid my hair back into a loose braid. I slid my boots out from underneath my bed and fumbled with the laces sliding my dagger in the side like I always did before patrols. As I rose from the bed I noticed the katana Karai had left or me. I glanced over at my bo-staff and sighed, conforming to the unfamiliar was not my forte. I raised the leather strap over my shoulder and got used to the feel of the blade on my back. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew my Uncle had trained me with a sword and I was actually very good at it. In the past two years I had searched for a sword that would suit me, but came up short. Karai told me I had lost my sword during the invasion and as much as I searched every square of the city, there was no chance I would ever find it. But I had come to find that my bo-staff was all I really needed to get by in terms of protecting myself. Apparently Karai had thought differently.

I strolled out of my room with my hood already up, it was quarter of midnight and Karai would be expecting me shortly.

In the lobby I caught a glimpse of Karai seated by the large fireplace. Most of our people had gone to bed by now, or were out patrolling. Grant was seated in the chair next to Karai and I gave him a smile to which he returned gesturing me over.

"Are you coming with us tonight?" I asked Grant who had been sharpening the blade of his ax casually on his lap.

"Grant's running a small patrol group to keep an eye on us from above, like usual. If things start getting out of control he'll be there to back us up." Karai said before Grant could speak.

"So who's here to keep things under control?" I asked already knowing the answer.

"Caleb, who else?" She said blankly back at me.

Caleb, oh Caleb. He had been here since Karai was introduced to the clan and he had somehow proven his worthiness. He would've been the head of the clan if it weren't for Karai, but despite the obvious conflict that should've surfaced, they had become very good friends and she relied on him whenever Herself and I wouldn't be there to look over everyone. He was a good kid, pretty smart too and somewhere I knew he must've had a thing for Karai. The only thing is Karai had her mind focused on someone else, and no one knew who it was.

"Speak of the devil" Grant said inhaling sharply.

Caleb, tall dark and handsome strolled into the lobby and right over to where we had all taken seats. His tan lean arms rested on the back of Grant's chair and he looked to Karai for conversation.

"And you need?" She asked sharply.

"Nothing, but I do have reports coming in that he's out again. SO...just keep an eye out."

"Who's out again?" I asked butting my way into convo like usual.

"The Dark Prince." Grant said in a spooky voice wiggling his fingers at me. I managed to muffle a laugh and he gave me a wink.

"The Nightwatcher, another name of his you might be more familiar with." Caleb said turning his attention back to Karai who looked unamused.

"Thanks Caleb, keep an eye on things. Grant go run your patrol and Alex..." She said gesturing for me to follow her. "Let's get this over with." I said mumbling.

It was about a twenty minute walk from the hospital to the outskirts of gang territory. Their headquarters was an abandoned warehouse posted near an old harbor they used to transport rummaged goods to buyers out of the city. Luckily for us, Karai had some of the foots mechanics fix up a bike for her, which shortened our ride to five minutes.

We stashed the bike a block from the outskirts to be sure gang members wouldn't touch it and walked right up to the boundary line we had established. A scrawny guy about mid twenties walked up to us and looked us up and down with a glare.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of two members of the foot." he said spitting at our feet. I wanted to reach right up and sock him in the eye but the warning look from Karai reminded me why we were here.

"We're here to see Hun." Karai said sharply.

"Oh course, of course. The clan sisters. Follow me." She sad leading us through the dirty streets. Mutant carcasses laid piled up in alley-ways and the smell was overwhelming. To my own demise I let my eyes linger a little too long down one of the carcass filled dumps and caught glimpse of a fresh body, except instead of a mutant it was distinctively human with a slit throat, and I managed to choke down a gag.

Our guide caught my eye and gave me a devilish smirk.

We walked in silence for another few minutes or so until we reached a giant warehouse. From the outside it looked abandoned, as if a gang never existed here, but we knew, we had been here many times before. As soon as the door opened I knew the smell of cigars and alcohol would hit me like a truck so I braced myself stepping in the doorway.

The scrawny man left us at the door to return to his post and instead and slightly cleaner face greeted us with an actual smile.

"I'm Jace, I'll take you to Hun."

For being in a gang Jace looked incredibly normal, maybe he was taken in after the invasion to be another life to push around. I followed his flaming red hair through crowds of men and occasionally women gathered around pool tables. In here it felt as if the world had never stopped moving for them, they never lost the city, they only gained form the invasion. It was like an ongoing party, people slamming drinks, smoking cigars and who knows what else. But boy did they smell. Did they have showers in this place or did they just throw themselves into the harbor form time to time.

Jace led us up a maze of stairs that held everything from people making out, to people passed out. There was even a young boy playing with matches. This place was a disaster waiting to happen. I just shook my head at the boy and trailed Karai up the stairs. Finally we reached a closed door on one of the quieter levels. Jace knocked on the door for us and gave us both smiles before returning to the chaos a few flights below.

From the other side the door opened and a burly man, probably nearing his thirties stepped aside for us to enter.

"Karai." He said in a husky voice

"Hun." Karai said seating herself in a black leather chair. I took an identical one next to her. _Probably stolen _I thought to myself

"Our agreements have been kept, unless there was something I do not know of?" He said seating himself behind a sturdy wooden desk. The purple dragons were still low-level criminals in my mind, but had actually bunkered down and made a business of themselves. It was like a bee-hive. The gang members went off and scavenged anything hey could find that might have once been of value and brought it back to their master. Hun. A six foot, burly, bleach blonde haired man that could probably take your head clean off in one blow.

"Everything has been in order." Karai said. "I am only here to make sure it stays that way."

"Give us more blocks and I'll see."

"Any more blocks and you'll run into my soldiers patrol routes. You wouldn't want that would you." She said narrowing her eyes at the man as if he were nothing more than a senseless rat. I sat there as the arguing and bickering went on. It always went down like this, but at the end they came to terms. Karai would give up a block and the purple dragons would stay away from our turf. I tuned out after Karai threatened to behead him.

I tuned back in a Karai stood up, my signal it was over and we were leaving.

"Thank you for coming to terms once again, Hun."

"Next time I hope the bargain be a better one. Or else little princess here will be just another body in our alley-ways." He said taking tight hold of my shoulder. I shot Karai a look and in seconds a sword was pointed at his face.

"I should have you know, my companion here could take on a hundred of your best men and leave them lifeless before her feet without attaining a single scratch." She said with a smirk. "All while using nothing but a wooden stick."

He eased his grip on me but his message was clear. I smiled at Karai and she took my arm to follow her out of the room.

"Let's get out of here." She said smirking at me.

I fell in step with her as we walked down the winding stair case. As we hit the second floor something was off. Hardly anyone was around and the loud music had stopped, leaving nothing but hushed voices and the smell of cigars. Karai gave me the "Be ready for anything look" as we reached the first floor.

Pool tables had turned into operating tables as bloody gang members were dragged in through the door. In that moment I felt my heartbeat speed up, this had now become the most dangerous place to be, we posed as enemies and their comrades were piling up on the tables bruised and bloody. We both unsheathed our swords about to take the first steps onto the first floor. At a distant pool table I saw someone lay down the boy I had met earlier, how could you mistake that flaming red hair.

Without Karai's approval I took off for the table putting my blade back in it's place not caring what the gang members around me were doing.

"Jace, what happened" I said in a worried voice. It pained me to see such innocent life draining away. He was probably the only one in this whole place I had liked when met him just an hour ago.

His eyelids flickered open and I saw the hurt in his eyes.

"He...came back...it was...him." He managed to choke out. In-between his words he coughed out blood and I had to look away, unfortunately I had only averted my eyes to sights much worse. His leg had been practically sliced in half and it was bent in all unnatural ways. Suddenly I wanted to find the person who was behind this and do much worse to him.

"The nightwatcher." A bulky man said as he came up next to me.

"He did this?" I asked placing my hand on Jace's arm.

"He's been after our men for weeks now. This was the worst attack."

I looked at Jace, who was slowly fading away. "Wont you do something?" I said with pleading eyes.

"We don't have the stuff to save these people, we're limited here."

"We have a hospital, let me take him there." I said practically begging now.

The man just shrugged and walked to another table to check over what was going on. Karai managed to find me in the expanding crowd and tugged on my arm. "Alex we have to leave. Now" She said in her stern voice.

"I wont leave without him." I said standing firm.

"No."

"Karai." I said "Have a heart for once."

"I had a heart when I took you in, remember?"

"So let me take him in."

She just rolled her eyes and talkied Grant to get the boy, he was only a block away, unless he had seen the attack and jumped in. My mind started to picture images of my people wounded under the hands of this dark prince, those images were chased away when I saw Grant come through the door. A this point no gang members were wiling to react because of the number of bodies they were tending to.

"What's up." Grant said casually as if he hadn't just walked directly into enemy headquarters.

"We have to get him out of here." I said pointing to Jace who's breath was starting to hitch. "Do now, ask questions later" I said as I saw the questioning look on his face. Orders were orders and Grant always followed through.

For once I saw a glimmer of mercy in Grant's eyes and he went over to Jace and slowly picked him up bridal style being careful with every movement he made.

"You owe me big time Al" He whispered to me as I watched him depart through the door. Suddenly reality had come crashing down on me when I stepped out the door to head home and escape this mess. Fresh bodies lay on the ground, to many for only one person to be responsible. I caught a worried woman by the arm before she could go inside.

"Is he still out there?" I said referring to the Nightwatcher.

She hastily nodded her head and I let her go. I was so full of hate and rage that someone could be so malicious and disgusting. The purple dragons aren't that great of people, but taking so many lives in one night? You had to be mentally ill or very sick. I stormed the streets running the opposite direction of everyone else. Before I even knew what I was doing I had my mask up and my sword drawn, and I found myself alone with the carcasses of the mutants and human bodies.

I slowly turned in a full circle, making sure I could see everything before I went on. Nothing on the roofs, nothing in the alleys.

"Nightwatcher!" I yelled in the angriest voice I could muster.

Nothing.

Then I heard a low growl and a mutant appeared before me. Not what I was looking for. I studied this creature, probably some poor soul who came in contact with the kraangs mutagen during the invasion. The blood on it's face and around it's clawed feet told me the nightwatcher wasn't the only one to play a part in this attack. What did he even look like anyway.

As the Mutant approached I got ready for it's attack. It lunged at me and I slashed out missing a leg by an inch. I turned quickly as my attacker pounced at me again this time I came in contact with it. I watched as it's blood seeped out onto the road. As if nothing had even happened the mutant looked as if it were going to attack again, and when I looked to the injured leg there was nothing there. It had healed itself, with only the evidence of the blood on the ground to prove I had even attacked it. I couldn't fight this one off, it would only drain me of the energy I needed to confront the one I was actually looking for. I quickly sped for a fire escape, remembering I had powers I went invisible and climbed the stairs unseen by my attacker.

As I got to the roof I saw even more mutants, this time winged ones tearing at the flesh of some unlucky purple dragons. I silently cursed myself and took off over the rooftops towards hopefully safer territory.

When I got about five rooftops away I noticed my invisibility was fading in and out and eventually I was back to normal. My powers had been damaged during the invasion so I had limited myself to using them, but as the days turned into months they faded. I couldn't tell if I was going to lose them forever.

I dropped to my knees and tried to steady my breathing. Yes, I had just witnessed a massacre. Yes, probably fifty people had been killed our mortally wounded. No, I didn't find the Nightwatcher. I let out an agitated sigh an let my head fall into my hands. I had saved one life right? Did that count towards anything?

I felt my throat start to knot up and tears threatened to run down my face. That's when I heard a low growl again and saw that another mutant had picked up my scent and followed me to the rooftops. It was about five foot off the ground and looked at me like I was it's next meal. It's talons twitched with anxiety and I could see the pulse of mutagen running through it's veins.

"Jesus Christ, leave me alone!" I screamed at it.

It backed off a step only to watch my movement. Within seconds it was coming at me and I raised myself to it's level and blindly swung. I couldn't tell if I had made contact but I heard a yowl of pain and when I looked up I saw it had not been me to make contact. A throwing star had been planted in the mutants forehead and it slumped away growling.

For some reason I didn't care who had thrown the star. I started to try and find my way back home.

"You'd think it'd be nice to get a 'Hey thanks for saving my life' once in a while."

I froze. That voice, I had heard it before. I turned to face him.

It was him.

I looked him in the eyes and I felt a single tear escape me. He just looked at me shaking his head. "You know I try to help people out, maybe save a life once in a while and you know what? I never get shit for it." He turned his back to me about to leave.

I was speechless, then I realized I still had my mask and hood up. I let my hood fall and slowly pulled my mask away from my face revealing the freckles that danced along my nose and under my eyes.

"Please." I said in almost a whisper about to let the tears fall out.

He turned slowly to face me, his face still twisted in anger from his outburst he had only a minute ago. I locked eyes with him and his face softened.

It took him a few minutes to realize what had just happened. He studied me and it looked like his mind was racing. In that time I had dropped back to my knees with my eyes still locked with his. Pleading, hoping for any signs of recognition.

"Oh my god." He choked out in a hushed voice. I heard the crack of wood on the ground as he dropped his hockey stick in disbelief.

In that millisecond it felt like everything had slowed down, I could almost hear the beating of my own heart and it was racing. It was like I had gone blind, I could see but nothing was connecting, hearing intensified and I started to feel as if this might be a cruel dream I was sure to wake up from any minute now.

Just like that time caught back up with me and I hear footsteps coming towards me, slowly. I lowered my eyes to the ground trying to hold everything back as a figure dropped to it's knees in front of me, mirroring my image.

"Is it really you..." He said trying to hold back his own choked voice.

My head was spinning, then he touched me and my mind was cleared. He put this hand under my chin and raised it until my eyes met his. I couldn't hold it in anymore, my eyes burned as the tears ran down my face.

"Casey." I said in my own choked whisper.

"Alex." He said pulling me into his lap wrapping me up tightly in his arms. His scent filled my nose, that familiar musty motor oil and dirt smell. In that moment I forgot everything I knew about myself and could only think of Casey. The hockey player that used to taunt me and give me piggy back rides.

"You're alive." He whispered in my ear clutching onto me tighter.

We were a tangled mess of tears and human bodies. Both taking our fair share of emotional roller-coasters chocked full of feelings. I was in the arms of a six foot four maniac who carried around hockey sticks as weapons, the same maniac that had thanked me for saving his sister, who taught me how to skate and learned to love me as just another sibling. In return I had loved him as a brother I had never had, and he became a best friend.

Two years apart, thinking each other were dead, and it takes a massacre of purple dragons to drag us back together. I choked out a tear soaked laugh and he just rested his head on top of mine.

"I missed you Al" he said in hushed voice and I felt a tear of his fall onto my face.

"I missed you too Case" I whispered back letting the tears fall freely now.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four.

_It was dark, and I could just barely make out my outline in the mirror. It looked like my outline, but for some reason I felt like it wasn't me, how could I tell if it was so dark? I reached my hand up to the mirror as if to wipe away the darkness that plagued the unknown figure, but instead my hand travelled through the mirror. As I drew nearer and nearer to the mirror I allowed my arm to travel further into it. I couldn't stop myself. It was pulling me in. _

_As the rest of my body stepped through the portal it dispersed behind me and I realized it was lighter now. When I looked down at my body I was wearing a red dress with high heels, not the typical outfit for me. The room I was standing in was blank, it was just me and in the corner, another mirror. This time I could see the figure in the reflection. It was me but I looked different. No scars, bruises or cuts, not even a scrath...my skin looked like porcelain, so perfect and smooth, but fragile. My hair fell in perfect loose curls around my face and the red dress made my pale skin glow in the light the room was giving off. As I watched my reflection the area behind me drastically changed._

_The blank walls morphed into lovely walls of lattice filled with roses of all different colors, white, pink, orange, and the deepest red imaginable. I was so consumed in the beauty of it all I hadn't realized the mirror vanished and the void behind me had turned into a beautiful walk-way full of flowers and vines, above me the sun was in the sky and I felt its warmth on my back as I walked down the winding garden path. _

_"Alex?" A voice called from behind a wall of flowers. It was almost like a whisper and it echoed around me._

_I didn't recognize the voice but I felt like I could trust it. _

_"Yes?" I called back. _

_Up ahead in the distance I saw an archway, twine with ivy and a beautiful orange flower I had never seen before. Under it stood a young boy, in a suit waiting for me. _

_"Enjoying the garden?" He asked as I neared him. _

_"It's beautiful." I said smiling at the boy. In all my time paying attention to the flowers I had realized I did not know this boy, but I was allowing myself to be around him. He almost drew me in and he looked young enough to hold innocence and laughter so I trusted him in that moment hoping I would continue my journey along the pathways. _

_"Who are you?" I said looking at him quizzically._

_He just laughed and smiled at me. "Oh Alex you're too funny." _

_I just looked at him._

_"Follow me." He said gesturing for my arm. I gladly took it and he led me down another winding path full of flowers and vines. _

_"Why am I here?" I asked looking up at him. For being younger than me I was surprised to find he had only fell a few inches above my eye line, given the fact I was wearing high heels. _

_"I don't know, didn't you come here on your own?" He said keeping his eyes set on our path. _

_I didn't answer. I couldn't explain the mirror situation or how the blank void had turned into a garden so I just stayed silent._

_"We've been waiting for you to come back, we missed you so much Al." The boy said. _

_"Wh-what are you talking about?" I asked. _

_Before he could say anything else another, older boy came up to us and greeted me and I realized the boy who guided me here had vanished. "Whe-where'd he go?!" I said spinning around but the boy just looked at me like no one was there but me. _

_"Come with me." he said. _

_I followed behind him a he led me down a path full of flowers ranging from dark purple to lavender. It was so beautiful but as the sun was setting it looked almost menacing. I could tell the boy was guarded, but he seemed to easily let me in like he had know me for some time. He stayed quiet through most of our journey but often I'd watch him look to the flowers and sigh, like he was longing for something. Had we become lost?_

_"Are we lost?" I asked falling in step beside him. _

_He just let out a chuckle and sighed. "No, we're not lost Alex." _

_"Then what's wrong?"_

_"I'm just wondering why you haven't let us until now. You kept us at a distance for so long I felt like I'd never see you're face again." He turned to face me this time. "But yet here you are." He said smiling. _

_I felt my skin get hot under his guarded smile, he was attractive with his brown hair and reddish brown eyes. But he looked like he was already in love and part of me saw him as untouchable territory. I hadn't realized we had stopped walking only after I noticed the walls of flowers weren't moving with me anymore. "Why'd we stop?" I asked, but the boy just smiled and vanished into thin air. _

_Whatever was going on was making my head spin, how did they know me, where was I?_

_"Hello." A deep but charming voice came form behind me. The walls of purple flowers had bloomed into a beautiful striking blue and my eyes fells on the young man who stood in from of me. He had to be at least twenty unlike the others who were noticeably younger. His blonde hair looked almost bleached and as he drew nearer I noticed his eyes were even more of a striking blue than the flowers behind him. _

_"Hi..." I said shyly looking up to him. _

_"I had expected you earlier Al, what took you so long?" He said gazing into my eyes. _

_"Who are you, what's going on.?" I asked feeling like a sheep in the shadow of a lion._

_"You don't recognize me?" He said in a tone that sounded neither hurt or surprised. _

_"No" I said in almost a whisper. _

_He looked at me with eyes that were full of longing and want, but he seemed guarded, even more than the boy before him. I felt a sudden chill In the air and looked up to see the sun had set, and lanterns along the path had been lit by candles. As we walked down the candle lit path he hardly spoke, but reached for my hand. I hesitated a little but wrapped his fingers in mine anyway, and part of me wished it could be that way forever, but something told me I had a little more to go. _

_"Alex, please don't shut us out this time." The boy said in a shaky voice. "Please remember." _

_I looked up to meet his eyes and noticed for the first time he wore a blue cloth around his eyes like some vigilante. _

_"Take your mask off." I said reaching for it. _

_He drew back. "I-I can't." he said. _

_"Why not, help me remember." I said in almost a whisper. _

_"You wouldn't trust me in my true form. Not anymore." And with that he vanished like the other boys had but this time a blue clothe floated to my feet. It was the one around his eyes. Thinking back I realized all three of the boys had been wearing cloths around their eyes, but I hadn't been paying that much attention to them. I hadn't even known who they were, yet they knew me like I had been in their lives._

_Suddenly the flowers started dying rapidly and as they melted away to the ground, the scene around me changes and the smell of garbage and rotting carcasses filled my nose. As I looked around trying not to gag on the smell, I realized I was now in the city back in my footclan garb. "Don't trust him." a voice echoed around me. It was the voice of the last boy I had met. I grabbed for my staff but it wasn't there. I had no weapons. _

_Behind me I heard a growl and I turned to face a mutant. As it got ready to lunge for me a small chain wrapped around it's back legs and it was pulled away into the darkness. Moments later another boy appeared, and like the last he had a cloth tied around his face to hide his true identity. This time the cloth was blood red and he scared me. He wasn't welcoming like the others and I already didn't trust him._

_"I just saved your life you know." He said with a cocky smile standing on the other side of the roof. _

_"I could've handled that myself." I shot back. _

_"Oh Alex, so stubborn just like the day we first met." He said daring to lock our eyes. My heart sped up and I felt almost like I could pass out right there. _

_"I don't know you, go away." _

_"But you do know me, you're just afraid to admit it." He said sounding angry with me. _

_"Leave me alone!" I yelled. Yet somewhere deep inside I realized I had know him some time in the past, his personality was recognizable yet his form was not entirely him. The words of the eldest boy I met echoed in my head. "You wouldn't trust me in my true form...not anymore." What did that mean? _

_"What a shame, to think at some point I loved you." He spat._

_I was on my knees now, trying to tame my mind. The questions and puzzle pieces running rapid through my brain brining on a migraine and fresh tears. "I should've ended you on that rooftop Alex, so much pain I would've never had to go through if it wasn't for you!" _

_"Who are you!?" I said through choked words. _

_"You're worst nightmare." He said with an arrogant smirk as he drew his sai._

* * *

><p>"Alex!"<p>

"God dammit, wake up!"

I opened my eyes to Casey looming over me with his hands on my shoulders. I could feel the stray tears on my cheeks and quickly whipped them away, the dream...it was meant to be a puzzle. I had to figure this out. In that moment I decided I to make a very rash decision. I could stop at Casey, or keep digging deeper into my past to find the ones I used to call family. The only one I really remembered other than Casey was April, maybe she held the key to the others. Then I thought back to my dream which had left me shaking. Were the boys in my dreams the ones missing from my memory, they kept asking why I shut them out and were asking me to remember? So the question is was it a dream? Or more of a realization.

"Take me to April." I said in a choked whisper.

"What?"

"I want to see April..."

He took his hands off me and sat down next to me on the couch I had been asleep on and let out a very long sigh. With his elbows on his knees he rubbed his face in his hands. "April isn't in the city Al."

"What do you mean?" I said

"Her farmhouse, she went back there to live and say safe. I haven't seen her in over a year."

He looked almost hurt when he said he hadn't seen her, but I pushed the subject even further.

"Casey." He looked up at me. "I need to see her, please take me." I said with pleading eyes.

"One condition."

"Anything." I said practically begging now.

"You have to help me out first." He said with a smirk.

* * *

><p>"Casey! I'm pretty sure this is illegal!" I said climbing through a broken window doing my best to avoid the glass shards.<p>

"Laws don't apply to an empty city. No cops, no people, no problems." He said with a grin helping me to the ground.

"Whatever, what are we here for anyway?"

"Well since I don't have any way of getting you to the farmhouse, I figured we should get some means of transportation."

"And where are you going to find a car in an abandoned warehouse?" I asked starting to doubt Casey's wit.

He began searching for the breaker panel to switch the lights on while I squinted my eyes to see what was actually here. Looked like nothing.

"Not a car Al." He said as I heard him fiddling around with the switches. He must've found the right ones because the lights came on all throughout the building. "We're here for that." He said pointing to a shiny black bike in the middle of the warehouse floor.

"No way" I said shaking my head.

"It's the only vehicle I know that works still." He said walking over to it.

"And how do you know that? Is it yours?" I asked crossing my arms across my chest.

"Let' just say...it belongs to an old friend of mine." He said, his face going serious.

"So we're stealing it then." I said starting to worry about Casey's intent.

"Think of it as borrowing." He said with a wicked grin as he slid the kickstand up. "Let's ride!"

"We have one more stop" I said sliding my legs up and over the bike as it roared to life.

* * *

><p>"No no no no and no! Alex!" Talon roared as I told him I was leaving with the maniac that he almost killed a few days ago.<p>

"I'm going regardless, I need some time to figure things out." I said turning to take my bag full of clothes and staff into the hall with me to leave. He followed closely behind and I could tell he was not happy.

"We thought you were dead! and now you're leaving with some deranged guy who could just as well kill you."

"Have a little faith Tal" I said laughing. "Besides I already talked to Karai and she thinks it's good idea."

"Yeah well Karai's deranged too." he said letting out a huff. "Come back alive, promise?" he said pulling me into an embrace. It wasn't unlike Talon to be touchy but I felt this hug wasn't meaningless like all the other ones.

"Promise." I said leaning my head into his shoulder. "Will you walk me out?" I asked.

"I think there's one last person you need to see." He said with a grin. I looked at him with questioning smile.

He led be through the medical wing doors to one of the rooms where healing foot soldiers stay. When I walked in behind him I was confused, why would he take me here, plus I had already said my goodbyes to the other four, Grant, Jax, Pep, and Murph. Suddenly Fire red hair caught my eye and everything from that night came rushing back to me. I had been staying with Casey for two days now, not even bothering to go to the hospital, two days I had left this poor boy alone.

"Jace..." I said in a choked whisper.

I jogged over to his bed and took a seat in one of the chairs. He was in rough shape but looked a lot more alive than what he had when Grant carried him here. Horror struck as I realized the doc had completely amputated his leg from the knee down. I wanted to just hug him, maybe even stay here until he woke up but I knew I had saved his life and that was enough.

"He's been out for a few days, I'm hoping he comes around soon, the meds have him all messed up." Talon said with a chuckle.

I just sighed and gently squeezed his hand. "It's Alex, I'll be back soon, please get better." I said whispering in his ear. I had heard somewhere that when people are in an a coma like state they can still hear everything you say.

As we left I took one last look back at the life I had saved before reality struck again and the doors swung shut behind me.

...

"So you're really doing this..." Grant said as I met him at the door.

"Why wanna come?" I said smirking at him. He just shook his head.

"Well, come here then." He said outstretching his giant muscular arms to me. I gladly hugged him, but slowly felt my lungs being squeezed out of me. "Get back here soon or I'll come lookin for you, I don't trust that guy." He said pointing his thumb to Casey who was waiting outside the doors leaning up against the bike.

"I'll be fine." I said slinging by bag over my shoulder.

"What if they're not the people you think you remember." Talon said trying to convince me to stay where it was safe.

"Talon please, just let me go." I sighed. "I'll be back" I said smiling.

I looked up to see Karai on the loft looking down at me, actually smiling, not her usual smirk. I waved and she just shook her head and walked off. I knew she was happy I was doing something about my memories, but I feared she didn't trust them either.

I took one last look back at Grant and Talon and walked out the doors. As I got on the bike and wrapped my arms around Casey, Grant had come outside.

"You better take care of her, or else you'll have an ax in your head." He said to Casey. I just shook my head. Grant could be rather...protective.

"She's in good hands." Casey said back saluting him mockingly before we took off down the road with dirt and dust flying up behind us. Was I really going to see April? A knot formed in my stomach as I pictured her standing face to face with me for the first time in two years. What would she say? But most of all what would she tell me about our old life together.

I was both ecstatic and terrified at the same time.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: That's it for another chapter, hope you guys are liking this story so far. So what's going to happen when the two meet for the first time in two years? Reminder, Casey is 19, Alex is 18 and April is 20. **

**Read & Review (: **


	6. Chapter 5

**YOU ALL BETTER STRAP IN YOUR SEATBELTS BECAUSE I'M ABOUT TO SEND YOU ON A CRAZY TRAIN RIDE FULL OF BOMBSHELLS. GET READY FOR THIS ONE PEOPLE.**

* * *

><p>Chapter Five.<p>

Two hours of pouring rain and an empty gas tank later I was beginning to wonder if this journey was worth it. We had been stranded under the abandoned roof of a lonely gas station out in the middle of nowhere, it was quiet and dark, and for the summer time it was cold. I wrapped myself in an old blanket I found on one of the still stocked shelves and sat down next to Casey who had grabbed a bag of chips off the counter.

"You're not seriously going to eat that, are you?" I said looking for the expiration date on the bag.

"Two words Al, Iron. Gut." He said as he broke the seal of the bag and reached his hand in.

I just shook my head. Unfortunately I had not even thought to grab food for the haul, and part of me was relying on April to have something to eat at the farmhouse. Apparently Casey and I both thought the same, since the only thing he brought was a pair of clothes and his hockey sticks.

What if April wasn't even at the farmhouse? How could Casey know if she was still there after a year of no communication. It seemed highly unlikely that the two would just drop each other after everything they've been through, but maybe I'm not remembering something, or maybe Casey has left me in the dark this whole time. Never once has he brought up our old memories or even April and the others, it makes me feel like somewhere he doesn't want to remember.

Or maybe he had brought them up, maybe he mentioned them so nonchalantly that I hadn't even registered what he was talking about. When we had went to get the bike he mentioned it belonged to an old friend of his. Could this be one of the faceless names of my memories? Or someone he had come by after the invasion. Either way the look on his face told me they were no longer friends, or somehow one had crossed the other. I pushed the thoughts to the back of my head and tried to focus on getting to the farmhouse.

"How much farther do you think the house is?"

"Oh, I don't know...probably fifteen, twenty miles?" He said still working on the chips. "We'll camp out here tonight and in the morning lets hope those gas pumps still have something left in them, or we're walking."

"Is it safe to stay here? I mean do you think mutants would've traveled out this far by now?"

"They're probably living in the woods on the outskirts of the city, but nothing like way out here...at least I hope not." He said giving me one of his wicked smirks.

We were a whole day's worth of travel away from the city, nothing a wandering mutant couldn't handle but it did seem unlikely they would want to roam so far away from familiarity. I hoped we wouldn't come across any, from what I've seem they're not to easy to kill, let alone injure.

As the night drew on I helped Casey roll the bike inside, and barricade the door. Apparently wandering humans could be just as dangerous, any human who could survive in a mutant filled city could probably take a life without second thought. Or so I've heard.

"Al, look at this!" Casey said from the back of the store. I left my place at the storefront window to follow the voice. Behind the counter stood Casey, and in his hands, a shotgun. From knowing Casey I knew hockey sticks were probably the most dangerous weapon he should have.

"The owner must've kept one behind the counter when this place was still running." he said running his hands along the barrel of the gun.

"Casey, put that down before you hurt yourself." I said placing my hands on my hip for emphasis.

"Relax, I used to hunt with my dad, anyway we should probably take this with us for protection it's loaded already too."

"Whatever, I just wanna go to bed." I said gathering up the blankets I had collected from the shelves.

I spread them out in the small space behind the counter I had chosen for myself and wrapped myself up in the soft fleece. I had almost fallen asleep before I heard Casey clear his throat.

"Case, I left you some blankets on the counter." I said annoyed that he had bragged my out of almost sleep.

"It's not that, uhh, it's just that..."

"That what." I said bluntly. "

"In case someone or something walks by and looks in the window, I think it's best we both be behind the counter." I sat up and glared at him. "For protection, you know..."

"Whatever" I said trying my best to make room for Casey in the already crammed space. He did have a point though, I shouldn't leave Casey out in the open, but they way he asked was just too awkward. Maybe after two years apart it's a lot harder to get back on comfortable terms. I tried to fall back asleep as Casey tried to get comfortable in the nest of blankets. Often he'd bump me with his elbow or his leg could rub up against mine and soon enough I was pushed as far up against the wall my body could handle.

"You know, I think I would've rather taken the chance of sleeping out in the open than spend one more minute squished between you and the wall." I said in a choked voice. "It doesn't help that you're hogging the blankets either, it's getting cold in here." I tried pulling my half of the blankets back over but they wouldn't budge.

I didn't get a response, just a grunt and continued snoring. I sighed, this was going to be a long night.

After what had felt like an hour Casey had stopped fidgeting and my eyes finally started drooping, I drifted off into my mind as my pulse slowed and my body stilled.

_"Alex?" A voice called from behind. I was in a white room, I couldn't tell where the wall met the floor and my eyes stung while they adjusted to the brightness that surrounded me. "Is it really you?" the voice called again. As I turned I saw a large cage had been placed in the room with me, and inside the figure which contained the voice. The boy was bloodied and beaten, he looked like his soul was drifting out of him, and his eyelids drooped halfway over his eyes._

_"Who are you?" I asked as the boy let his head drop. He was on his knees and his arms had been suspended above him by two chains. The bruises, and the dried gashes that plagued his body told me he had been in there for a while._

_"You died." He said shaking his head. "You're not really here." He said letting his body fall limp under the chains suspending his arms._

_I walked over to the cage, I felt remorse for this poor boy but I couldn't find a way to help him. He was in such awful condition that even if I could help him it wouldn't do much good._

_"What's your name?" I asked in a soft voice._

_"Why are you here." Is all he said in response._

_He chuckled. "You don't even remember me." He said shaking his head._

_I reached my hand in the cage and placed my hand lightly on his shoulder. "Help me remember then." I asked._

_When I touched him his body stiffened, as if realizing for the first time he was no longer alone. His head slowly raised to meet my eyes. I watched as piercing blue eyes met mine, it was the boy from my last dream. The oldest one._

_"I know you." I said in a choked whisper._

_"In this form." He said blankly back. "You don't remember what I really look like, the person you used to confide in, the one that spent so many days trying to get your attention. It's me Alex."_

_"I don't know what you're talking about." I said trying to understand what he had just said._

_"It was me who let you cry on my shoulder, it was me helped you. I am the blue you see everywhere, in the ocean, in the summer skies. The hue that plagues your mind subconsciously. I am always there, but you know me by color rather than by what I look like." He let out a forced sigh from the strain he was under._

_My mind was mush. I was more focused on his scars and bruises than what he had said. Blue, he was blue? What did that even mean. The last time I had seen him he had a blue cloth around his eyes, maybe that's what he meant._

_"Let me help you." I said reaching my arms further into the cage, searching for anyway to get him out, to help._

_"You can't" He said very simply, like it was almost a joke._

_"Let me try."_

_"You don't get it. I'm trapped here." He said looking me dead in the eye._

_"By who?" I asked getting to my feet, I figured if I could find this person I could possibly confront them and manage to swipe away the keys to the cage. The more I looked around thought, I couldn't find a key hole. There was no entrance, and no exit. "Who put you in here?"_

_"you." He said glaring at me. For the first time I sensed hostility and for a moment was glad he was chained away from me._

_"I didn't do this." I said crouching in front of him once more._

_"You locked us away Alex. You remember us by color, not by figure."_

_"What?" I said trying to take everything in at once._

_"Find her, find us."_

_"Find who? Who are you?!" I said in a demanding voice now. This conversation wasn't adding up._

_"I'm you're last memory!" The boy flung his body against the cage making the chains rattle. "I am rooftops, katanas, friend, trust!...love" He let his body settle. "That is the only trace of me left within you!"_

_I was silent. I didn't respond, I couldn't respond, how was I supposed to?_

_"What do you want from me." I said in a hushed voice as I fell to my knees. A single tear rolled down my face and the hard glare from the boy changed into an apologetic look._

_"For you to free me."_

_"How!" I yelled._

_"Find her, and find me."_

_"Who! Tell me who!" I cried into the cage._

_"Find her, find us." His voice sounded like it was fading, and quick. "Free me, come back to me." _

_I shut my eyes and cupped my ears as his voice rang in my head. When I opened them again I was alone. No cage, no boy. A knocking started on the walls of the room and my head started pounding as I got the sensation of being dragged, I started screaming, pulling against the unknown force. Then everything went black._

* * *

><p><em>"<em>Morning sunshine." Casey said looming over me. He had another bag of chips in his hand and I could hear him crunching away.

Another dream, another puzzle left to figure out. Why did these dreams feel so real though? What is going on. The boy in my dreams said I had trapped him away, was that a connection to trapping the people from my past away in my locked up memories? He had also said he was my last memory...and the human form he took on wasn't his real one.

I racked my brain for my last memory I had before I was taken to the foot clan. Swirls of blue and red ran through my mind a I watched two figures on a rooftop look down at me. As they turned to leave my memory ended. He had been right, I could only ever associate my memories of people with colors, and the boy had said he was blue. I hadn't thought about the colors in almost a year. I felt a headache coming on as the color games I used to play with Karai every night came back to me.

"Blue." I said in a whisper not knowing I had spoken out loud.

"Blue what?" Casey said looking at me quizzically.

It suddenly came back to me. Blue was the leader katanas, friend, love...it all clicked as the name came back to me and rolled off my tongue.

"Leonardo." I said in an even quieter whisper.

I looked up at Casey who looked like a deer in headlights. He had dropped his bag of chips and was just staring at me. "Who?" Casey said lowering himself to me holding my gaze.

"Leo." I said suddenly getting a rush of hope. I needed to get to April asap. I jumped up folding a blanket into my pack as I slung it around my shoulder. "We need to get to April's did you get the gas?" I asked not wanting to hesitate for a moment. Every second I wasted was a second longer I would have to wait for my answers.

"Yes, but Alex...I need to talk to you about something!" I heard him yell as I pulled open the door.

"Can it wait? I really need to see April right now."

I felt a hand wrap around my arm and I turned to face Casey, who's expression was serious and for the first time looked worried.

"We really should talk." He said as he pulled me back into one of the isles.

I sat down impatiently on the floor as Casey funneled gas into the bike's tank. "That name I just heard you say." He sighed. "Who is Leonardo to you." It sounded more of a statement than a question.

"I hardly remember him, but you should remember everything. You were with them that night I fell from the roof."

"Yeah." He said sighing again. "I was there, but you should know something before we find April." His tone was still serious.

"You're scaring me Case." I said

"They're not the same people you remember Alex. They've changed. I haven't seen them in almost two years, let alone know where they are."

"What do you mean?" I said leaning into the conversation.

"We all split Al, there is no family anymore, we're all on our own now from what I know. There was a fight, some things were said and weapons were drawn. It was like a war." Casey said looking out the window at the rising sun. "I tired to grab April and get out but she thought she could stop them." He paused looking at me now. "They almost killed her Alex. She's lucky she got away with just a scratch."

"What? They tried to kill April?!"

"The blow wasn't meant for her but she crossed into the fire. We all split after that. April told me she was gong back to the farmhouse, and I decided to stay in the city where I belonged."

He muffled a quiet laugh and let his boy lean up against the bike. "Why Leonardo, why couldn't you say Mikey, or Don. My heart dropped when that came out of your mouth."

Mikey and Don, orange and purple floated around in my head. "Why." I asked.

"Leo was the one behind the blade that almost ended Aprils life. "

Every memory I had of Leo was his personality, he was pretty quiet most of the time, very kind and always careful. How could he just lose it like that? And trying to hurt April? Never!

"What happened to him?"

Casey started pushing the bike out the doors when he turned back to face me. "He became very sick, mentally. He kept blaming himself for what he did to you, he let you "die" in his mind and he really never forgave himself. He wouldn't sleep or eat, and we tried to help, we really did but he'd lash out. When he pulled the katana on April that's when the family unit split, we all went our separate ways and left Leo to his own demise. " he sighed. "He really loved you Alex, a lot more than he ever let on. And I think he still does, that's why he can't let you go."

I didn't say anything, Leo loved me? I stood up to follow Casey but my legs could hardly move. I was so appalled by what had happened. Was it right to see April after what had happened, I mean Leo was ill...over me. Would I bring that bitter reality back to her, or would she welcome me with open arms. Does she even remember? The bigger question, was she even at the farmhouse? I looped the gun and my bo-staff over my shoulders with my bag and slid a leg over the seat of the bike while Casey gave the engine life.

"Ready?!" He yelled over the hum of the engine.

I just nodded my head and the bike lurched forward. As I looked up I saw the skies had become dark for early morning and hoped we could make it to the house before the rain threatened to halt our journey once more.

I let my mind wander to Leo. He was alone in the city, on the verge of going completely insane. No guidance, no help. Part of me wanted to hold off on seeing April and go save Leo from himself but I kept my mind on track. April first, then if I could find him, Leonardo. Nothing Casey said had added up though, it seemed as if Leo lost all of his old self after the invasion. Was the old part of him trapped away in my dreams? When I had fallen from the roof did I take a piece of Leo with me? In my dreams he kept saying "Find her find us." Did he mean April? There way only one way to find out, and I was on my way there right now.

I was dragged out of my daze as the pavement turned to dirt underneath the bike. "Almost there!" I heard Casey yell.

As the minutes dragged on I felt like I had been on the bike for over an hour. How far was the farmhouse? We had to get there any minute now. I started to wonder if I could trust Casey to get us there on the correct route. Had he missed a turn? Or was it just really that long of a travel. The skies were getting darker and I felt a single rain drop fall on my arm. This day was beginning to take a turn for the worse.

We were on a long dirt road, surrounded by pines and trees you could tell had aged over the years. They were tall and I felt almost like they were closing in on me.

"How much longer?" I said in Casey's ear. "I don't know if I can take this anymore." I rested my chin on his shoulder and watched the front wheel on the bike spin.

Five minutes later an I felt Casey's breath hitch. I looked up to see if something had happened but my eyes went straight to the old pale white house at the end of the dirt road we had been on for a good hour. It's paint was chipped and it looked like it had seen years of wear. It was an old house, and by the looks of it, abandoned.

Maybe this wasn't the right house, but as we rolled closer I saw there was no other turns or continued road, and when Casey brought the bike to a halt I knew this was our destination. A dead end with a spooky run down house. Great. The perfect scene for a horror film.

"Is this it?" I said still siting on the bike as Casey got off.

"What'd you expect a five star hotel?" He said with a smirk. He was joking now but he was just as nervous as I was. I saw the shake in his hands and the anxiety in his eyes. Surely he had noticed the house looked abandoned also, and we might not even have the gas to make it back to our first stop. I slowly slid off the bike and he grabbed a hockey stick.

"Let's go see if anyone's home." He said gripping his stick in his hands.

I kept my bag and staff on my back and lifted the gun. My Uncle had taught me how to shoot a pistol before, how could this be that much different. I let Casey take the lead as we stepped up the stairs of the porch, just as it started to rain. I could hear thunder in the distance, just making the scene that much more terrifying. If there was a mutant inside instead of April, we could possibly take it down and seek refuge here for a few days then start from scratch, go back to the city and figure out where she went. I was praying she'd be here though, but the empty drive-way and uncut lawn drowned my hopes.

Casey knocked twice on the door, but no answer. We waited but there was nothing. I was about to call I quits and just check out the rest of the area when I heard a small shriek from inside the farmhouse. It made my heart jump and I could tell from the look on Casey's face, he wasn't to pleased about it either. Something was in there and from the sounds of it, it wasn't April.

Casey knocked once more, ready to bust down the door when the knob turned from the inside. I heard a quiet commotion and hushed voices and another shriek. I braced myself for whatever stood behind the door. Casey squared up ready for anything gripping his hockey stick so hard his knuckles turned white.

The seconds slowed down so slow I felt like we were standing there with adrenaline and anticipation for a good five minutes. As the door opened I expected to come face to face with a mutant, or refugees from the city hiding out. When I didn't see anyone I was a shocked. Then I noticed a tiny hand wrapped around the door pulling it open. A light shine through the frame of the door and I smelled pasta, and home-made sauce. It made my stomach churn I was so hungry.

When I came back to reality, I realized Casey hadn't moved. I pushed my way around him to find the tiny hand belonged to what looked like a toddler, but not all human.

"Hello." It said in a cheerful voice. "Who are you?" It looked at me with huge reddish brown eyes. Eyes I had seen once before. So innocent, so small, what was it doing out here all alone? Then I heard voices, and braced myself for whatever was lumbering towards the door. Casey pulled me back behind him as the small child was scooped up from behind the door with large green arms. Did I see that right? Green?

The doorway opened the rest of the way and in the frame stood a tall humanoid creature. It was all green, with three large fingers. On it's back I saw traces of a shell from what I could see standing behind Casey. A mutant turtle? Why hadn't it attacked us? Then I realized it looked incredibly human. I braced myself for an attack but Casey let his hockey still fall to the ground.

"Casey?" The creature said in almost a whisper.

"Daddy who is that?" The small creature whispered in his fathers ear.

"Don." Casey said locking eyes with the mutant who was equally as tall as him.

Don? The name rushed back to me. Could it be? Donatello? Swirls of purple danced around in my head as the human from my dreams came back into view. It was him, but was this his true form? I looked out from over Casey's shoulders and got my clarification. The purple cloth. It was wrapped around his eyes, just like the boy from my dreams. I felt like part of my memory had been unlocked as I remembered the lab, Doctor Don stitching me up after fights, he had saved my ass more than once, and I was standing right in front of him, two years older than when we had first met. Eighteen, It was really him.

The turtle set the toddler down and Casey met him in the frame of the doorway in a bear hug. As they were hugging and talking I had somehow gone unnoticed. In his moment of being reunited Casey had forgotten I was there.

I felt a tug on my finger and looked down to find the small child holding my pinky. "Who are you?" It said to me. It had a body like it's fathers but instead of three fingers it had five like a regular human. But unlike a human it had a small shell, dotted with small brown and white splotches. It looked like a painted turtle with the markings on it's face. but instead of traditional red and pink they were white and made it's auburn colored eyes pop. Then I realized where I had seen it's eyes before. On Donnie.

Casey and Don were still immersed in a hug and the turtle had his eyes closed, probably why he didn't see me, and why he was so absorbed in the moment.

"Up." The child said to me reaching for my arms. I bent down on one knee contemplating if I should touch it for moment, but it's eyes overpowered me and I brought the child into my arms. It squealed with joy as I lifted it getting the attention of it's father.

For a moment I had forget about the turtle in the doorway having a moment with Casey. Our eyes locked and he looked at me with curiosity for a moment, like I was a stranger. He didn't recognize me.

"Oh yeah" Casey said clearing his throat. "Guess who I found in New York." He said rubbing the back of his neck uneasily.

"Hey Donnie." I said in a soft voice.

He said nothing.

"Daddy who is she?" The child said playfully still in my arms, now running it's fingers through my hair. It had managed to get my hair out of my braid and was now untangling it for me.

All it took was two steps and the mutant was hovering over me, still locking his eye's with mine. One second I thought he was going to break my neck, the next I was wrapped into an embrace. "How..." he said in a whisper.

The child laughed and groped for it's dad who was wrapped up in my arms also. He detached himself from me taking the child in his arms. "This is an old friend, Wren." He said setting the toddler down who I now knew to be a little girl.

"What's your name?" She said walking up to me. "Are you Alex?"

I was shocked that the child had guessed my name and by the looks of it Donnie looked just as shocked. I watched out of the corner of my eyes as a tear escaped his eye.

"My mommy tells me stories about you at night. She said you went to go fight off the bad guys...did you win, is that why you came back to my mommy and daddy?"

I bent down on one knee. I couldn't believe what was coming out of this kids mouth. I choked down tears and nodded to the tiny girl with eyes full of wonder. "Yes, I'm back for good now. No more bad guys." I said with a smile.

I was so focused on the child I hadn't noticed the figure in the doorway was no longer Donnie.

"Mommy!" the girl shrieked as she ran into the arms of a flaming red head.

"I was wondering when you'd come around Case." She said pulling him in for a hug.

"April?" I said not realizing I had spoken. She looked at me with a smile.

"Hey Al." She said bounding over to me and wrapping me up in an embrace, for being so skinny she had a stronger grip on me than Donnie had. "I knew you were coming." she whispered into my ear. And with a smirk she pulled me inside with her child and Casey.

How did she know I was coming. How did she even know I was alive?

Before I could ask I caught a glimpse of orange out of the corner if my eye. Another small child zoomed passed me with an orange cloth in it's hand. He was followed by a young boy in his teens, I take that back, a young mutant in his teens chasing after him.

"Give it back!" he yelled. For being much older than the toddler he was just as immature. Then I realized it was Mikey. It had to be, the freckles, the innocence, the playfulness. More memories rushed back to me.

"Michelangelo, we have a guest." April said getting his attention.

The blue eyes locked onto Casey first and he bounded over couches and an end table to latch onto Casey.

"Casey Jones Lives!" He yelled at he top of his lungs getting shrieks of laughter from the two toddlers.

"Hey Mike." Casey said casually embracing him in bear hug.

"What brings you back he-" He stopped talking when he saw me. For a moment I felt lost in his gaze. It was so full of curiosity and confusion I couldn't react in time before his arms locked around me and I was lifted off the ground. "...We thought you were gone." he whispered into my ear. They way he worded it, made me feel like he couldn't have ever accepted the fact everyone thought I was dead. then I realized he was only fifteen when the invasion struck. How could he have accepted it. "Mikey I missed you." I said letting his memories rush back to me. Skateboards and pizza, zombie apocalypse III. It was all back, I remembered for the first time everything that Mikey was related to. I remembered.

"Our family is being put back together." Don said with his hands around April.

"There are some things you can't put back together Don." she whispered back. She was talking about Leo.

* * *

><p>After a spaghetti dinner we all settled around in the living room. Don went to go help Casey put the bike in the barn and I was left with the toddlers and April while Mikey cleaned up the kitchen.<p>

"Alex...you alright?" She said holding her daughter in her arms. I still didn't know the other one's name.

"How did you know I was alive." I said in almost a whisper I was surprised she heard me.

"I have gifts, just like you. Where your's are physical, mine are mental." She looked into the burning fire. Ignoring the two little turtles crawling all over her. The second toddler Mikey had been chasing had no markings unlike the other one and in fact looked more like a little boy.

When I was silent she continued. "After the invasion I reached out to you telepathically. I could feel your presence, I knew you were alive. I tried sending messages to you, I don't know if they ever went through though."

"How come you didn't ell anyone else? Why didn't Don or Mike know?"

She just sighed. "It was hard enough coming here after the invasion and seeing everyone so beaten down. They thought you were dead, but I knew better. You're a miracle you know that right? A walking miracle... I couldn't say anything because I was afraid at any moment I wouldn't feel you there anymore, our connection would be severed. I didn't want to give out false hope." She looked at me with sad eyes.

"I've seen your dreams, I know you made the choice to come here. I'd been putting images of Casey and I in your head for a while now. I didn't think you'd take so long to act on it. When I saw you had met Casey I gave you the dream of the brothers to open you up more to reality."

"You made me have those dreams?" I looked at her quizzically.

"Yeah, I made the boys human so you'd become more familiar with them I didn't know how you'd react to mutants after your amnesia. I tried to make them match up with your memories, but you didn't get it until just last night. You remembered Leo first, you recognized him as a human. What I should tell you is that I didn't place Leo in you dreams, that was all you. I was going to place Don or Mike but you chose Leo for some reason."

"He was in a cage, he looked close to death." I said in a hushed voice.

"I saw..."

"Do you know where he is?" I asked.

"No.., I wish I did though. I can feel him in the back of my mind. He's surviving but just barley."

Before I could say anything else Mikey entered the room with a movie in hand. "I think it's time we had another movie night!" He yelled jumping over the couch landing next to April. The toddlers laughed and jumped on him.

"Uncle Mikey you the best!" The boy shrilled.

"I think you two have had enough fun today. Time for bed!." April chimed scooping up the young boy in her arms.

"Awwhhh Mommy!" They yelled in unison.

"Only if Alex tucks me in!" Wren yelled.

"Alex?" April asked looking at me with weary eyes.

"I'd be happy to." I scooped up the tiny tot in my arms and followed April up the stairs. After I tucked her in and turned out the lights April pulled me out into the hall.

"I can't believe you have kids. I really missed a lot." I said with a smirk

"Yeah it was NOT planned, trust me." She said shaking her head. We laughed and things got quiet again. "I think I should tell you a little bit of what happened Al, you're missing out on a lot still, I can tell."

"April?"

"yeah?"

"I missed you so much." I said as we met for a hug. As tears ran down her face I couldn't hold mine back any longer either.

"I missed you too, Alex...I just wish the rest of us were here to see this."

The only thing is none of us knew where the "rest of us" were. Tomorrow I would find out more about my past and get the answers I had been asking myself every night for two years.

* * *

><p><em><strong>So I realize I made a mistake, Alex is 18, April is 18, Casey is 19, Donnie is 18, Mikey is 17, Leo and Karai and 20, Raph is 19 but we haven't gotten to him yet. ;) Sorry if the mix-up left anyone confused I apologize. I hope to see a lot of reviews on this one. Maybe even a little hate, (Please no) The kids were an idea I pulled right out of nowhere and liked so there they are, hope all you Apritello fans are squealing in your seats and happy. (: <strong>_

_**Until next chapter, hope you enjoyed. ;)**_


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter Six.

I sat next to April on an identical rocking chair as the sun peered just above the tree tops. It was a beautiful morning, the birds were singing, and the breeze was warm. I relished it, finally fresh air, not polluted like the city. It felt like I was back in North Dakota with my Uncle living in our small house. I pictured him sitting next to me in a rocking chair just smiling, I lost myself in his gaze.

"You alright?" April said dragging me out of my trance.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

No one else was up but April and I, and Wren if you want to count being half passed out in her mothers arms. April looked like a mother, for being only eighteen. She always had that comforting motherly feel to her, and now she actually played the part. The bags under her eyes from sleepless nights proved it.

We sat in silence for a little while more, just listening to the breeze on the tall grass.

"What's your other child's name?" I asked, remembering the tiny boy I had seen yesterday in Mikey's arms.

"That would be little Oliver. "

I remembered the little boy I had seen yesterday, so full of life. "They're adorable by the way, how'd you teach them to walk and talk so fast for only being two?"

She just smiled at me and sighed. "We didn't teach them that. They did it on their own."

"How? They're so young!" How could they form sentences so correctly and fluently? Shouldn't they be babbling on about nonsense? For being two years old they looked like they had already grown so much, but then again they were mutants, I wasn't really sure what they were capable of doing.

"When I was pregnant for them Don wanted to make sure everything was going okay so he did some blood tests, you know..who knows what could happen when you're carrying around two human/mutant babies in your stomach." She shook off a laugh. "The blood test showed that they were growing at an irregular pace, instead of a regular nine month period they were out by the second trimester. And when they were born...well that's a whole other story." She patted her daughters head gently.

"I have time." I said leaning back in the rocking chair, letting the pull of gravity lull me back and forth.

"Well, you see, one morning I woke up and everything in my room was floating, I thought it was a dream at first but the longer I sat on the edge of my bed I realized it wasn't. I thought it was me doing it at first, so I woke Don up and he was just as surprised, he said I couldn't possibly be doing it. When I checked on Wren she was smiling up at me, I went to go pick her up everything fell, and I realized it was her, she did it."

"Mommy are you talking about me?" Wren said stirring in April's arms.

"Yes sweetie, I was just telling Alex how special you are."

"Mommy!" The child said laughing sitting up on her lap. I couldn't help but smile at just how happy Wren seemed to be all the time.

"So anyway, Don ran some tests and it looks like she inherited some natural gifts from me, I have yet to discover what else she's capable of, but Don is sure there's more. Did she already show you what else she can do?" April gave me a smirk.

"No?" I said looking confused.

"Wren, go show Alex what you can do."

Wren gave her mom a huge smile and crawled off her lap running over to me. She reached her hands up for me to pick her up, and I in turn sat her down on mine.

"Ready?" She whispered.

I gave April a nervous look and she just nodded her head.

Suddenly the tiny turtles hands were pressed on either side of my cheeks and my eyes flew shut.

_I was transported to the city, well the underbelly of the city. I was sitting on a couch in the middle of what looked like a make-shift living room. "Wren!" A tiny child flew passed me trailed by a much larger version of herself. It was Donnie and he scooped her up from under her feet and crashed on the couch with her in his arms. I felt the couch shift underneath me as it compensated for the new weight._

_The little child just stuck out it's tongue and laughed._

_"I'm serious Wren. I told you to stay away from that room, Uncle Leo's in there and he doesn't want company right now." He said scolding the small girl. He was about the set the child down as a flash of paper caught his eye. "What's that Wren?"_

_Wren shyly unfolded the paper to show him, it was a photograph. "Who is this girl daddy?" She said pointing to the long haired brunette standing in the middle of Leonardo and Mike. It was an old picture, you could tell by the wear on the outsides._

_"That's Alex, she used to be part of our family." He said in a pained voice examining the picture. "Where did you get this from.?"_

_"Uncle Leo was crying, holding it so I took it so he wouldn't cry no more." She said smiling looking proud of herself for, in her mind, doing the right thing._

_Donnie just stared at her knowing what was going to have to happen next. Don raised himself off the couch and started back towards the room the little girl ran from. "Uncle Leo is going to be very upset you took this from him, stay in your room and don't come out until I get you okay?"_

_"Okay daddy." She said hanging her head in shame._

_I followed the girl to her room, it was very dark on the inside, but of course it was the sewers. There was a small bed in the corner and it looked like she was sharing it with someone, possibly another child. I sat down on the edge of the bed with Wren and she tried to understand what she had done wrong._

* * *

><p><em>"Wren, honey, what's wrong?" A voice came from the doorway. It was April, with another child in her arms.<em>

_"Mommy who is Alex?"_

_A pained, torn look came across April's face and I could tell she was trying to figure out what to say._

_"Honey, Alex used to be part of our family." She sat down next to Wren with the second child passed out in her arms. "She had to leave to go fight off the bad guys that's why she's not here right now."_

_"Why does Uncle Leo cry over her?"_

_April looked like she was exhausted from today and was just about to answer when the child in her arms started to stir. "Mama." It said lacing it's arms around her neck. The next thing that came out of it's mouth was just blabbering. Wren must've developed much faster than her brother if she was having conversations while the other one was just starting to speak. It was clear there was something special about her._

_April got up ignoring her daughters question as best as possible and laid the other child down in the bed and it instantly curled up to fall asleep. "You should be going to bed too." She said giving her a quick peck on the forehead. Before the child could speak a loud bang could be heard from downstairs._

_As if knowing what was happening April started for the door turning back to tell Wren to stay and don't come out until she comes back._

_Wren just grunted and the raised voices and commotion from the lower levels of the sewer kept getting louder. The curiosity looked like it was wearing on the tiny girl as she fidgeted around in her bed. I wanted to go see what the yelling was all about but I couldn't stray far from the girl. She was almost holding me there. I could only see whatever she was in eyesight of._

_Without warning Wren grumbled and slid off the bed walking over to the door, she had obviously had it with the commotion. I followed her out onto the balcony where saw the scene play out. Don was on the ground getting back to his feet and the couch had been flipped. Mikey was standing in front of April protectively as if guarding her from something. Then I saw him, Leonardo. He was standing in the middle of the living room panting hard. He looked unstable, like he could lash out at any given moment without warning._

_"Leo C'mon, relax."_

_Casey had walked into my line of sight and had his hockey stick in his hands ready for an assault._

_Leo turned quickly to him, glaring at him yet said nothing. "It's just a picture." He said quietly._

_"It's not JUST a picture!" Leo roared. "That little brat stole it!"_

_"And I came to return it." Don said back on his feet. looked down at Wren but she seemed unaffected, this must've happened a lot for her to be so indifferent. "She did not have bad intentions."_

_"I thought I told you to keep her out of my room." Leo said pointing a katana at April. She didn't even flinch. Mikey stood up taller in front of her._

_"Leo...Rela-" I watched as Leo shoved Casey to the ground. Don saw this as a chance and he jumped onto Leo's back holding his bo-staff to his neck. This didn't hold for long and Mikey could see they needed back up so he ran over to help, only to find Don on the ground once more and Leo panting even harder. The wooden bo-staff sat broken in half on the concrete. "Bro.." Mikey said quietly, as a blade leveled in front of him. Casey and Don both attacked from the back but Leo was quicker, it was about to turn bloody I could see the blood thirst in Leo's eyes as he started to swing his blade towards his oncoming family._

_Even quicker than all three was April, she appeared in the line of fire just as the end of a katana sliced across her cheek, drawing blood. "Mommy!" Wren screamed barreling down the stairs. I quickly followed._

_"If you think for one minute I'm going to stay here and watch you try to tear apart this family, you're wrong." April said in almost a whisper to Leonardo who still looked ready to kill. "You're a coward Leonardo, and I'm not raising my children under the same roof as a broken man...or should I even call you a man, you're nothing anymore, what happened to you." She said holding back tears grasping her cheek._

_Wren ran over to Don and latched her arms around his legs, staring down her mom. "We're leaving Leo, and you're not coming with us."_

_"LEAVE THEN!" Leo bellowed waving his katana. "Just leave!"_

_Minutes later I followed a rushed April up the stairs with Wren in her arms. "Mommy where are we going?"_

_"You remember the farmhouse?" She said trying to sound as happy as possible for her daughter, but her voice was under a lot of strain._

_"Where we went when grandpa was sick?"_

_A flash of sadness washes over April's eyes but too quick for her daughter to notice. "Yes honey. Pack as much as you can and we'll leave as soon as possible."_

_"Kay Mommy."_

_Casey came into view with a bloodied arm that had already been half bandaged. "You're welcome to come with us you know." April said to him._

_"I have an apartment in the city, I think I'm better off here." He said with a forced smile. "Mike sad he's going to go with you though. He just went out to try and find the other one, to let him know but I think he's long gone by now." He said rubbing his hands together. April just gave him a nod._

_"If I don't see you before we leave, goodbye Casey. If you change your mind you know the way." She said giving him a hug with her one empty arm._

_"I remember. Goodbye, April. Bye Wren."_

* * *

><p>I was back on the porch of the farmhouse staring into the reddish brown eyes of the turtle tot.<p>

"Amazing right?" April said smirking at me.

"What just happened" I said blinking my eyes a few time. "Did you do that?" I asked the little girl who was still sitting in my lap.

She just nodded her head with a huge smile. "Again?" She asked laughing like the tiny child she was.

"Hold on...what exactly was that?" I said turning to April still in awe.

"She showed you her memories. It's surprised me the first time too, that's why I put the thought in your head to find me, if she shows you her memories things might be easier to understand, and more of your questions can be answered. The only problem is you can only see her memories, not yours which would be much more helpful on your part." She sighed.

"What memory did she show you?" April asked.

"It was of Leo, when you decided to leave...I didn't know he was that bad."

She stared off into the distance. "So many things have changed Alex, it's hard to even remember what life was like before this mess happened."

"April?"

"Yeah?"

"Who was Wren's grandpa?"

"You don't remember..." Another sigh and then a forced smile. "Let's take a walk."

* * *

><p>The woods were so peaceful and quiet, there was no one around for miles. April, Wren and I walked in silence for a few minutes before we came upon a small pond. I could hear the croaks of bullfrogs and the occasionally chirp of a near-by bird. It was relaxing and in that moment I swore I could've stood there forever. My train of thought was broken by a large rock placed near the outskirts of the pond on the other side of it.<p>

I felt a tiny hand wrap around my finger and Wren gave me a sad look. "This way." She said guiding me to the rock while April trailed behind us.

I felt the world becoming quieter with every step I took in the direction of the large rock, it seemed to be giving off some type of energy that just went right through you, it made you relax and slow down for a moment. "What is this?" I asked.

Before I could get an answer Wren bent down on the dirt before the rock and placed her small hands on the cold smooth surface. I wondered what she was doing, until I realized under her hands were words.

"Sensei, Father, Family.

Rest in peace Master Splinter, Hamato Yoshi"

Splinter, the name came rushing back to me, all these years I hadn't even thought about him, hadn't even bothered to try and remember. What was wrong with me. The one man who helped me out of the hell hole I was in, who pushed me to achieve, I was his student, and through training became his daughter. "No..." I said my breath hitching.

I bent down next to Wren and ran my hands along the words. Also carved in the rock were symbols I had seen before, were they in the dojo? I couldn't even remember now, I felt like I owed this man my life but I'm so pathetic I couldn't have even know his name. "When we came here after the invasion, he used to come to this spot everyday and meditate." I heard April say from behind me.

"He wouldn't be very happy with the way the family's turned out now." April said standing off at a distance. She must visit here often, there were fresh daisies on top of the rock. Her favorite flower.

I just nodded my head, then a thought came to mind. "Why don't we fix it then?"

She just smirked and shook her head. "Easier said than done, I can't get through to the other's minds, I can't see them let alone know if they're alive."

"We can get the family back together!" I said standing up.

"What if they don't want to be found." She said narrowing in her eyes. I could sense something was built up inside her against those left behind.

"We could at least try." I said pleading with her now.

"One of them left the family on his own accords, one of them was left behind by the family. I'm sure both of them resent us now."

I stood there confused 'the others', 'they'? "Who left? I thought it was only Leo."

A wicked smirk appeared across her face and I was terrified for a split second. "So it seems the ones we hold dearest to our hearts are the last shards of the mirror we don't dare put back together? Eh?"

The dream, the last shard of the mirror? It was the boy on the roof who threatened to end my life, who wished only death upon me for the doing of his own darkness. A blood red color washed over my eyelids as my mind drew to a very dark corner of my memory.

Raphael.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry this chapter is so short, I hope that answered some of your questions thought! Reviews are welcomed and appreciated (:<strong>


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven.

* * *

><p>It's been five days and all I can see is red. Blood red.<p>

How had I put off the thought of him for so long? How had he managed to linger in the back of my mind for two years, only doing more damage by the minute. He was arrogant, snarky, and an all around asshole, before it had just been a personality flaw. His anger was only generated towards picking on his brothers, and making snide remarks, but April told me she sensed it was more than just that now. She felt as if he had taken a turn for the worse. He was no longer the loveable hot head we all knew, no longer...family.

Unlike Leo, April told me he still had his sanity, he was still "all there" but when she tried to get through to his mind, or see into his dreams, she turned back she couldn't do it because his aura was too dark. That's why in my dream he was the only one who didn't want me back in his life, he was the one willing to get rid of me for good. Had it caused his that much pain when he watched me "die" the night of the invasion? Had he let his mind venture into hatred towards me? At this point I was more afraid of finding Raphael, than I was Leonardo.

It had been five days since I found myself at the farmhouse with Casey, five days of finding out what my past was made up of, and what had happened to my family. I now knew Leonardo, the one who helped me through all my rough patches and pain, had lost himself in the madness of the city, he was no longer the controlled, kind, caring Leo I knew before. April had told me Raphael had left the family the first chance he got when they came back to the city after the invasion, he was isolating himself, becoming more aggressive, one day they woke up and he was gone. Mike told me that he'd see him on occasion, Raph was roaming the city, and Mikey was the only one left who would run nightly patrols, on occasion he'd try to convince him to come back but Raphael was turning into a monster, he said he would never come back...

The only one who could talk some sense into either of them was Master Splinter, but he was gone. Overtaken by pneumonia and weak lungs. April said he had told her once that he knew I was alive, he told her to find me after he had passed and tell me everything, he said I was the only other one to open their eyes. How could I live up to that? How could he know I would be able to find them and fix them? It was going to prove to be a long and tiresome journey and the heat of early June was not helping the case.

I sat in the one window bedroom and looked up at the pale ceiling. What was this going to come to? How was I ever going to find these two...and what's preventing it from becoming a bloodbath once they figure out I'm alive. Would Leo hurt me? Would Raph really be so unforgiving to make my death permanent?

April told me all her memories of me from the moment she met me to the times in the lair. She told me how when I first became accustomed to life below the city, I had hated Raphael. She said she thought I would go for Leo because he was always around, hovering over me, making sure I was alright. She said Leonardo had loved me, but I only remembered him as a friend and nothing more, maybe because I never returned those feelings. When Raph started to come around, things changed. We no longer fought, we no longer glared each other down from across the dinner table. Passing glances turned to flushed cheeks and eventually feelings were exposed.

April said when they came to the farmhouse during the invasion, Raphael was destroyed. He would isolate himself, and hardly talk to anyone. It was hard to try and imagine a broken Raph, he was so full of fire, fire so unobtainable and burning hot. What had happened to him in the time frame of two years. Did the fire go out? Or instead of passion, was it now fueled by hatred...

I wanted to search for him, maybe he was still in the city, at least that's where April felt him. He would prove to be the hardest to have his mind changed about the family, about me even. Bringing Leo back was starting to look like a piece of cake.

It was half past ten at night and my mind was beginning to wander. I was glad to see my old family again, but part of me was starting to wonder if I even fit in with them anymore. I was so accustomed to the clan life, and I had made a new family there, could I just up and leave them to come back to this life? I had been with the foot for two years, a lot longer than I was with the turtles and April. Could things ever go back to normal now with my two separate lives beginning to clash...

In the back of my mind I also began to think more and more about my parents death, I needed to find out more about project 87 and what it's sole purpose was, I needed to know why I was created, and why I was hunted. One problem though, all my answers were in Italy. Where I was born. My eyes began to fall shut as the night drew on, asking more and more questions as the darkness overtook my room.

I was transported to a lonely hillside that overlooked a large barren felid. It was a sunny day out but the clouds were casting shadows out across the field as they tugged along the sky, moving slowly. I breathed in the fresh air and tried to listen for the soft chirps of bird, maybe even the gentle winds on the tall grass, but there was nothing. Only silence.

"Alex." A voice came from behind me.

I turned to face the blue clad turtle, his scars were gone and his complexion looked new, as if he had never seen harm or pain a day in his life.

"Leo?"

He just nodded and leaned against a tall oak tree that sheltered him from the sun. "We need to talk."

His voice came off as casual, but his look was serious. "About what?" I asked standing alone in the sunshine, I didn't trust this Leo, he looked ominous, yet not as hostile as he had seemed in the cage in his past visit.

"They're keeping secrets Alex."

"Who?"

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye and smirked. "Who do you think?"

"What are you talking about?"

_April and Donnie._

His lips didn't move but I heard his voice loud and clear. I stumbled back a few steps and dared to look at him, he had another smirk on his face. "H-how'd you do that?" I said keeping my distance.

He just laughed. "It's all in here Alex." He said pointing to his head.

_You have other gifts Alex, Donnie knows. _

"What?" I said trying to comprehend why he was choosing to talk to me both through my mind and face to face. "How would Don know that?"

He gave me a stern look. "Take a walk with me." his voice echoed again in my head...

_Be careful what you say out loud, April can see into your mind remember? I can't feel her presence right now but I don't need her hearing anything she shouldn't. Try speaking through your mind. _

As we walked through the barren field I willed my inner voice to connect through to Leo, and it felt like it was working.

_How does Donnie know I have other gifts? _

_He's had samples of your blood for a while. He's been running more and more tests on them trying to figure you out. He was trying to see how your powers developed and how they became part of your DNA, he tried with April's but hers wouldn't regenerate._

_What does April's blood have to do with mine. _

_Aprils blood can't pass on her gifts she possesses only her telekinesis and eventually Wren can develop telepathy if she wills it, but your blood carried everything about you in it. _

_But Wren showed me a different gift?_

_A gift which did not come from April's blood._

_What are you saying?_

_Why do you think April keeps you away form Oliver. _He said giving me a side glance as we walked through the never ending field. The grass had become higher here and I ran my hands along the tall weeds.

_Maybe he's shy!_

_Or maybe it's because he has your gifts, exposing him would mean exposing secrets and April doesn't want that. April was willing to show you Wren's gifts because she knew you didn't know you had other powers. Wren's gift with memories is actually yours. _

_But then why would April bring me to the farmhouse? _

_Part of her still is family to you, but there are far too many things you still do not know about what happened. Be careful around her._

_Where can I find you?_

_Here _, he said pointing a green finger at my forehead.

_I mean physically... _

_I advise you find my brother first. Then I'll tell you how to find me. This is just my soul speaking to you, my body in it's state right now does not know you are alive. Even before you find Raphael, I suggest getting to know the people around you a little better first, starting with the little ones, they hold many secrets._

_Why Wren and Oliver? _I asked turning my head to look at him, my mind was running with thousands of questions, the mot prominent one was what exactly was April hiding.

_Well Alex, their veins are running with your blood. _

My eyes filled with darkness as I floated back into my dreams.

* * *

><p>Once again I was awoken by a bright ray of light on my face and a tiny tot crawled up on top on me. I opened my eyes to find Wren, auburn eyes glowing, her smile illuminating my morning. "Morning Wren." I said rubbing my eyes.<p>

"Morning Aunt Alex, Uncle Mikey made us pancakes!"

"I can smell them." I said trying my best to sit up with the tiny turtle trying her best to snuggle up to me. I don't know why but she had taken a liking to me since I got here and I couldn't seem to shake her off. I could tell April was starting to notice too.

Suddenly Leo's words came back to me. My blood ran in her veins? She had my gifts, which meant what she had showed me with her memories, I could do too. Only one way to find out if Leo had really visited me in my dreams last night.

"Wren? Can I try something really quick?"

"Sure!" She squealed straddling my lap. "I'm gonna try to show you my memories, but you can't tell your mommy...okay?

"Okay!" She squealed again clapping her hands.

I pressed my hands gently to her cheeks and I watched her eyelids slide shut. Without doing so, mine shut also exposing me to darkness.

_He walked out from the darkness. "Fancy meeting you here." He grinned. "Shouldn't you be down in the dance with April and Casey?" he asked, noticing I came alone._

_"They ditched me as soon as the slow songs started playing." I said. "I don't dance anyway, just not my thing, ya know?" I said leaning against a heater._

_"Yeah, I'm not a big fan of high school dances either." he said jokingly, I laughed getting his attention. I could feel him looking at me but I just looked at the moon. It was so much bigger out here than when I saw it inside, and it was even more stunning._

_"Do you ever feel like you're heart is telling you one thing but your mind is telling you another?" I asked him out of pure curiosity, still starting at the moon._

_"All the time." he answered quietly. I looked over at him. He was looking down at his sias, fiddling around with them._

_"It's like I'm constantly fighting a battle with myself, My heart wants one thing, almost longs for it...but my head says no, don't do this, don't do that."_

_"Splinter always taught me when I was younger to follow your heart, because it's almost always what you really want deep down."_

_"Yeah but do you ever let your heart take the lead? I mean, I just don't trust myself enough I guess."_

_We were both looking out over the city now. It was lit up with street lamps and headlights, and the music from the dance drowned out the noise from the city._

_"Maybe you just need to take a leap of faith." Raph said._

When I opened my eyes back up Wren's were still closed. I had deffinetly just seen a memory, one I hadn't remembered until now, but the question was, did Wren see it?

When the toddlers eyes opened they were wide, and I knew she had seen it too.

"Alex?'' She looked at me with sad eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Did you love Uncle Raph?"

I was shocked at her question but I knew it was one I had been asking myself these past few days. "Yeah, I guess I did." I said sadly stroking her soft tiny cheek. "Promise you wont tell your mommy or daddy or anyone what you just saw?"

"Cross my heart." She said giggling. "Can we have pancakes now!?"

"Yeah, yeah, let's go." I said scooping her up in my arms, but all I could think about was Raphael. We were kids then, was it really love?

Downstairs running around was Oliver, playing with what looked like a toy jet. Behind him was Donnie threatening to catch him. Oliver seemed to be a little trouble maker, but I wouldn't know, maybe it was true what Leo had said. Maybe April was keeping him away from me. I needed to get closer to him, but how? Wren loved to be around me, so why was this child keeping his distance.

"Grub's in here!" Mikey yelled from the kitchen. When I walked in I sat Wren down in her chair and grabbed a few pancakes for us.

Time to do some digging. "Hey Mike, you know how Wren can do all these cool things?"

"Yeah, she's one awesome little dudette!" He said flipping a pancake perfectly in the air.

I gave a little smile to Wren. She just laughed as she stuffed the fluffy pancakes in her mouth.

"What can Oliver do?" I asked casually.

"Dunno! I saw him move around some water with his hands this one time tho, it was preeeeeety cool Al."

That was all the clarification I needed, Leo was telling the truth. It didn't even seem to phase Mikey that he just spilled a secret, although April had probably never thought to tell him, or she kept Oliver away from him too.

When I finished my pancakes I searched the halls and living room for Oliver, I wanted to see if I could get him to use his gifts. When I looked out the window I saw a quick flash of green and purple. Oliver had continued the chase outside.

I was going to have to do this in front of Don. As guarded as Donatello was, I knew he wouldn't really be able to react in the situation I was going to put him in, I was just hoping April wouldn't show up. Mike said she was out training in the woods with Casey.

I stepped outside to warm June air, as I stopped on the porch I sensed someone had been behind me. Of course, my little shadow. "Wren?"

"Yeah?" She said looking at me curiously.

"What makes Oliver so special like you? What can he do?"

She gave me a wary look. "Mommy says I shouldn't tell people."

"What if I ask him myself?" I said bending down to her level, she just shrugged her shoulders. I just nodded, this could work.

"Oliver!" I yelled from the porch walking down into the grass. He stopped running as Don slowed to a halt behind him. He looked at me with curious eyes tilting his head. Was he scared of me?

"What's up Alex?" Don said trying to take my attention away from his son.

"I just wanted to ask Ol a question." I looked at Don, he looked wary but nodded and let me approach him.

As I bent down to be eye level with the small boy, I couldn't help but notice his eyes her hazel like mine. As our eyes locked I could see he was curious about me, and a little scared at the same time.

"Hey." I said in an almost whisper.

"Hi" He said looking back to his dad for safety. Don placed his hands on the tot's shoulders.

I looked up at Don one more time, thinking in my head how much he had changed. We used to be good friends. I'd help him on his projects, and he'd set aside special time to help me train. He even saved my life a few times. Now he was using my blood to create super mutants. Betraying me by doing the one thing the people that killed my family did when I was created.

Leo's voice echoed in the back of my mind, I could feel his presence. _Show him _

"Wanna see something cool?" I asked the two year old. Ten out of ten times they always wanted to see something cool.

His face lit up and I took that as a yes. "Alex, what are you doing?" Don said tightening his grip on his son as I stepped away into the taller section of grass.

"Watch and see." I said smirking as wind started to twirl around me. Don was confused at first but when he realized what I was up to he tried to hurry Oliver into the house. I twisted my fingers towards him and roots shot up form the ground trapping his legs where he stood. He could only hope his son could continue into the house.

But Oliver didn't move. He watched me as Don yelled at him to get inside. I started to twirl around making the wind spin with me, it flattened out the grass around me and a small cyclone formed, dancing and spinning around in the grass. I dispersed it with a flick of my wrist and turned back to Oliver. It was a small portion of what I could do but I hoped it connected in his mind.

His hazel eyes were bright and he stood there in awe. Don was trying to escape the grasp of the roots as he realized his son was walking over to me. "Alex! Get me out!" His temper was starting to flare and I just played it off as a joke by giggling, but in the back of my mind I was watching his struggle and enjoying it. I had been around Karai too long to show mercy now.

When Oliver walked all the way over to me I bent down to meet his eye level once more. He held out his palm to me and I watched as a tiny ball of water formed there. I smiled at him as it rotated in his hands. I assumed from the look on his face this was all he could muster up for now. I giggled and scooped up the ball of water in my palms as it kept rotating. "Watch this." said with a smirk.

I threw the ball up into the air, we both watched as the ball of water floated in mid air for a moment before it turned to snow an slowly started falling down around us. The toddlers eyes grew even larger than before as he reached out to grab a snowflake. I forgot Wren was there until I hear her signature giggled again and she was under the snowfall with us jumping around.

"H-how did you know..." Don said in almost a whisper.

I glared at him. "Why did you do this to them Don."

"What d-do you mean?" He said finally prying himself of the root with a dull dagger he had on him.

"We need to talk." I said walking past him to the barn, I knew he would follow.

When we reached the barn I shut the door and quickly pinned him up against the side wall making the various tools cling together. I got real close to him and gritted my teeth as I spoke softly.

"Why does my blood run through your children's veins..."

He was silent, and he managed to wrap his leg around mine and push me back. A searing pain ran up along the side of my leg and I let out a grunt. As I tried to get up the blunt end of a bo-staff came down hard on my chest.

"I don't mean to hurt you Alex, you're like family to me."

I glared up at him, his eyes were sad and he looked like the past two years had not been the easiest on him.

"Why Don, why do they have my gifts? Why did you do this to them.? Why have you been keeping secrets..." I said still on the ground ignoring the pain in my leg.

He just sighed and sat down on a near-by crate, he knew I wouldn't attack again, he hurt my leg on purpose. "These past few years have been long, and we hardly survived out here, let alone in the city."

"Get to the point." I said sitting up, leaning against a bale of hay.

"When April told me she was pregnant, I knew the children wouldn't survive if they were normal, no training, no form of protection if they got lost." He rubbed his eyes with his green finger. "One day I went back to the old lair to cleanout what I could of my old research, in the mess I found old test tubes full of your blood...I did some testing with the and found out your blood carried all your genes in your DNA, even your gifts. I thought to myself that your blood could protect my kids, if they'd have powers like you."

I sat silent waiting for the full story.

Another sigh as he placed his chin in the palm of his hand. "Before they could be born I injected some of your blood into April's bloodstream. The two sets of DNA fused and yours and April's genes were passed on to the children in the womb. That's the reason why they age so quickly, they were both born only a week into the second trimester. You're blood somehow sped up the maturing process."

"You're making it sound like your intentions were good, so why did you forget to remember my blood is being tracked? Do you remember where I got this scar from? Anzo, and he's still out there, if he finds them he'll kill them. Project 87 was no joke Don, but you just put your entire family in danger."

"I know okay! I did it so they would be able to protect themselves when the time came, April and I, we wont be around forever, we're lucky enough no one has found us out here."

I looked at Don, his hands were callused and stained with grease, he was still the inventor I once knew, but long nights caring for two toddlers looked like it had already taken a toll on him. He was down, and gloomy. I was so used to him spitting out facts about science and watching his face light up as electrical fuses moved a robotic arm, or as steam rolled off of a test tube. Now he was just dull, at age eighteen he was no longer a free range teenager, he had kids, lives to protect and mouths to feed. He had lost himself in the beautiful mess of life...

I guess the trials we faced forced us to grow up much to fast. I longed for summers on the beach with friends from school or a boyfriend to take me out on silly dates to the movies, but I was far from a life of ease. I can't make stupid decisions, I can't run wild. I'm walking a tightrope right now, one false move and that's it. Everything's over.

"Oh Donnie." I said with a sigh, "What the hell happened to us."

He managed to stifle out a laugh...then grumbled shaking his head. "I've been asking myself that for the past two years..."

Just then an idea came to mind. "Don, can I show you something?"

"I guess so." He said plopping down in front of me ungracefully.

"Does Wren ever show you her memories?"

"Almost everyday..." He said pushing a smile.

"I can do that too."

"I-I know." He sighed. "I wanted to tell you as soon as I found out but we all thought you were dead, and April told me it was a secret and she said I couldn't tell anyone, and I'm really sorry but when you got here it went right over my head, I've been up all night working on inventions that ca-"

I shut him up as I placed the palms of my hands on his face. As his eyelids slid shut I was transported back in time with him.

_"Donnie! She's here!"_

_As soon as April spoke the turtle looked up and stood to his full height. Has much taller than the last two I had met and instead of blue eyes he had a deep reddish brown tint to his. When he looked at me he smiled showing that there was a gap in his teeth. Maybe from some sort of accident? I thought._

_"Hello April, and Alex." he said showing his smile again._

_"I've heard a lot about you, April told me over the phone. You can call me Donnie."_

_"Oh...Hi Donnie." I said showing a little red in my cheeks._

_"If you don't mind can I see what you did with the snow the other night? April said she's never seen anything like it before"_

_I nodded and reluctantly repeated the scene the other night at the hockey rink. Different shaped snowflakes began to fall around us. _

_"Amazing!" Don said staring at the snowflakes in awe tapping a pencil against his chin._

_"Alex you're truly gifted. If you don't mind I'd like to study your abilities a bit more. Maybe next time you come over?"_

_"Haha, Sure Donnie" I said gingerly._

_As I turned to leave he stopped me. "Where'd you get that?" he said pointing to my staff. When Mikey gave me back my staff from earlier I must not have turned it back invisible._

_"Oh this?" I took it out and stood it at it's full height. "My uncle gave it to me when I was younger, he trained me with this and my nodachi."_

_He looked confused when I mentioned my sword. I reached back revealing it at my touch and his eyes went wide._

_"Alex I have a staff too" he walked over to his desk and lifted a wooden stick from where it rested on the wall. It felt nice to find someone to relate to._

_"Oh my gosh Donnie, that's so cool!" I said as we stood our bow staffs side by side. His even had the retractable blade at the top._

_We talked for another ten minutes about our training techniques before he told me he had to get back to work._

_As I opened the door to leave he spoke up one last time._

_"Hey Alex?"_

_"Yeah Don?" I said turning around_

_"Maybe sometime, we can train together. It'd be great to train with someone who has the same weapon as me" he said trying not to sound to excited._

_"Sure, sounds like fun" I said as I smiled._

* * *

><p>When I came back to reality Don's eyes were bright and for the first time he had a genuine smile on his face. "Alex..." He said in a whisper.<p>

"That's the very first memory I have of you Don, this helps me remember too it kind of forces my past out." I said with a small smirk.

Within seconds I was in the arms of the big green turtle. "Thank you for that. I've been so bogged down with the farmhouse life I haven't taken the time to reminisce."

"I know how you feel...I've had amnesia the past two years, these memories feel like someone else's but I know they're mine...they just don't feel like it yet, I guess it's not clicking in my head... " I said with a chuckle.

We talked for another few minutes on where we had gone so wrong. The night of the invasion we should've just left an came to the farmhouse first. A bunch of teenagers versus an alien robot army...can you guess the ending?...not good. But then again I would've never ended up with the foot clan, I would've never met some of my best friends. I couldn't help but think of Talon. He nursed me back to health, even if he did have to replace the majority of my bones with metal, and deep down I felt like he was deeply connected to me.

He would probably cross a few oceans for me, and I would d the same for him. In two years he had become the Leo of my life. They were similar in every way. The only thing is, no one can replace Leonardo. He's out there and I have to find him.

There's only one thing stopping me.

Raphael.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey guys, I know this chapter was a little longer but I actually tried to put a lot of stuff in here. If anyone get's confused with anything, you can PM me or leave your questions in the reviews, I'll get back to you. One other thing, it's kind of gets me down that the three same people have been reviewing my story this whole time minus a few. To my faithful reviewers, I love you guys! thank you so much for keeping up with the story, and keeping me going. I'd just love to see a few new faces, just leave anything. Suggestions, comments, questions... I take everything. A big thanks to all my followers, I hope this story has been turning out better than my last, I've gone back through and realized how dull Runaway was so I'm trying to put more into what I write. Please, please, please read and review. Thanks! Hope you enjoyed. (;<strong>


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight.

Two weeks later.

_"Alex, I can't lose you. Don't go with us , save yourself." For some reason he had it set in his mind there was a very large chance one of his brothers would not be making it out alive, if not all of them._

_"I know you'll come back to me Raph." I said seeing the worry in his eyes._

_He stroked my hair burying his face in my neck giving me little kisses that sent shivers down my spine. Then he brought his face back up to mine and looked me dead in the eye. His green eyes almost glowed in the dark of the room and I felt myself getting lost in them._

_"I know, I just need to know you'll come back to me."_

It's two a.m. and the fan in my room just stopped working. I can't fall asleep because all I can hear in my head is your voice telling me to stay in the lair, that it's too dangerous for me... Your voice telling me you never want to lose me, and those three little words with such big meaning rolling off your tongue as we spent our last few hours together. I try not to look around to much because all I see is you, but the darkness beneath my eyelids doesn't help either because you're there too. I can hear your brother's snores through these paper thin walls and I feel like we're back in the lair again camping out on the couches after a movie night. But when the sun comes up I wont be waking up to you. I won't see bright green eyes, or the asshole smirk on your face. All I'll be able to see is red.

* * *

><p><span>Later that morning<span>.

I sat on the porch as the sun sat nestled away in the tree tops, awaiting morning to come and dry up all the overnight dew. It had been almost a month since I found Casey and we left the city in search of April, and I felt washed out and over tired. With July almost on our heels I knew it was time we started our search for Raphael, but the fresh breeze and peacefulness of the farmhouse made me want to never return to the city. I knew as soon as I went back I wouldn't be able to return to April for a while, but as much as I dreaded it I knew the foot clan awaited my return.

My mind wandered to Talon, I missed him so much it almost hurt to think about him. I wondered what the foot had been up to, since I had no way of contacting them. I was worried, what if the treaty between the clan and the gang had been broken? Would I be returning to a burned down home? And what of the Night watcher? Had he relentlessly slaughtered any more purple dragons? I leaned back on the porch swing and took a deep breath. This was not going to be an easy journey.

With all these things swirling around my mind, the thought of Raphael was still there looming over me. What will I say to him when he is just inches away from me, close enough to touch. What will he do when I tell him I didn't die, that I was saved. Will he turn around and walk away, never looking back. Or will he wrap me in his arms and promise to never let go again. Or should my nightmares become the reality where he tries to end my life for good.

"Alex, you might want to see this." April called from the doorway.

Inside I saw the tv was on and everyone had gathered around it listening to whatever was being broadcasted through the tiny outdated screen.

April pulled me over to the couch and I sat on the arm rest next to Mikey who's eyes were glued to the news. When my eyes fell on the tv I saw masses of cars and busses all full of people, with the police trying to calm down the jammed traffickers.

"What's this all about?" I asked.

"It's the city, they're letting people back in..." Casey said in almost a whisper.

I leaned in further to try and absorb the situation, this was bad. "There are too many mutants, they'll kill everyone! Don't they know that?"

"Alex, no one has seen the city in a little over two years, they don't know about the mutants." Don said holding a sleeping Oliver in his arms.

"You should consider heading back soon before you get caught up in the traffic." April said resting her head in her hands. It looked like she had faced another long night caring for the two toddlers who seemed to have an endless supply of energy. Except for right now, both of then were limp in their parents arms, eyes closed lost in their dreams.

"I was planning on packing up this afternoon." The truth was I had already packed my bag the night before when I couldn't find it in me to close my eyes and face Raphael in my nightmares all over again. I packed up everything I had brought with me which was just my clan attire and my weapons. Everything else was canned goods and a few snacks April gave me for the ride. Casey would not be going with me, he wanted to stay with April and the guys after all. I would be taking this journey alone.

"Me and Don did some work on the bike, it should get you back to the city by nightfall." Casey said chewing at some sunflower seeds he found at the bottom of his duffel bag last week.

"Of course I had to make some modifications." Don said smiling. "That bike looked like it had been through the roughest parts of the city."

"I can only imagine." Casey said a little under his breath, to which Don raised an eyebrow.

"C'mon, you should be headed out soon anyway, I'll show you how to work it." Casey said excusing himself from the couch, not even looking back to see if I was following him.

As we reached the large red barn he pushed open the sliding doors with a grunt and stood in the frame for a few moments more until he decided to go in. I had only been in the barn once before, when Don had almost broken my leg. It had a musty smell to it and it looked as if the hay had been sitting there for at least a good century. In the corner was a makeshift lab I presumed Donnie had put up for himself, and in the opposite corner was an old farm truck alongside the bike I rode here on.

"So basically it's pretty simple to drive you just pu-"

"I know how to drive it Case." I said smirking.

"Well." He huffed. "That makes things easier."

"Talon taught me last year on one of the foot clans bikes."

He looked as me quizzically for a moment then his facial expression changed. "That sissy boy you've been hanging around with?"

"He's not a sissy boy" I said with a light laugh punching Casey in the arm. "He's like family."

"Yeah well Al, we're your family too." He said softly, his eyes serious.

* * *

><p>It was nearing noon and I had everything ready to go, except myself. I wanted to live out the rest of this summer at the old farmhouse, I wanted to wake up every morning to the smell of pancakes and the noise of the kids playing downstairs. I wanted forever to train in the woods with April, and watch Mikey make diner, maybe even help Don with his gadgets. But reality was sinking in and I knew I was going to have to leave one way or another.<p>

As I hugged everyone goodbye and wiped away the tears on my little Wren's face I couldn't help but wish the process of finding Raph and Leo would be quick so I could hurry back with them, but it would be a long journey rehabilitating them both back into family life. It would prove to be my hardest challenge yet.

I pushed the kickstand up and let the bike roar to life as I strapped both the gun and my staff over my shoulder and gave everyone one last wave goodbye as I took off down the old dirt road. I was going back to the city for good.

As the hours passed on dirt turned to pavement and I drove the bike onto one of the major routes to get back to the city. When Casey and I had taken this route to get to the farmhouse it was virtually empty, now it was filled with busses, cars, and trucks. Anything people could squeeze into just to get back to their "Homes." As the noise of car horns and yelling filled my ears I couldn't help but to reminisce on the city I once knew. There was never a moment of silence, even through the longest darkest nights.

I felt the need to stop these people, they couldn't possibly know what had become of the city and were heading straight for danger. Their homes had more than likely been looted, and anything worth saving had probably been destroyed if their apartments and houses weren't already new homes to mutants and stray animals. Some of them would be killed upon arrival by the uncontrollable mutants, maybe even by the gangs, and what were the police supposed to do? I've tried my hand at taking them down but their genetics are so superior to ours that they can heal themselves, becoming at most indestructible. Decapitation, or striking at the heart is the only way.

I needed to find Karai and warn her of all these people. We needed to get out of the hospital. I led my bike through the cramped vehicles and in reply received the finger multiple times, even a few car horns. That's one thing I didn't miss about the city, the people in it. Another hour went by of just getting through the tight spaces of the traffic until I was on the bridge. Ahead I saw the police had been stationed out before the immediate entrance to the city and they were only letting so many people in at a time. I needed to get through.

I rode up to the barricades and was halted by an officer. "Excuse me." I said "But why are they letting everyone back in?"

A question to which I only received a shrug. "License?" He asked.

"Um, no." I said, I had never even gotten my permit to drive. "But you need to let me in." I said trying to push the bike past him.

"No can do Miss." He said looking off into the distance chewing on his gum. I was lucky I had turned my gun and staff invisible before I got on route to the city or else he'd really have my neck right now.

As he was called off to the side by another officer I saw my chance. I slid my mask down into my face and gave the bike some gas, taking me past the makeshift barricade the police had set up. Behind me I heard a few shouts, and looked back to see that two cars had taken my lead and stormed the barricade too. I smirked to myself, that's the thing about these city folk, they're not afraid to test the boundaries, and besides what could the cops do? Chase us down? Not with miles upon miles of traffic to get through the gate.

As soon as I was in I knew right where I was going.

As I pulled up the he hospital and stored the bike in the adjacent alley-way I could already sense something was off. My steps slowed as I neared the sliding glass doors, and my heartbeat speedup as they didn't open for me like they used to. I leaned my forehead up to the glass, everything inside was dark, except for an eerie hall light that was flickering like a candle in the wind. It was as if it was never inhabited, never called a home. As I pounded on the glass expecting someone to hear my cries I came to an awful realization.

Everyone was gone.

But where would they go? Did they leave the city? Or had they heard about the re-opening of the city and fled to a warehouse or apartment complex knowing the dangers to the citizens would leave the hospital very busy. As I jogged back over to the bike and started the engine, a thought came to mind. I was once again alone in this huge city. The very thing I tried to escape when I had first came here. I would look for any patrolling clan solider tonight and If I couldn't find my clan, I'd have to start my search for Raphael in the morning.

I sped my way down route to the harbor. I could stash the bike there and take to the rooftops, working my way from the outside in hopefully finding the slightest trace of him somewhere in between. No one would go to the harbors so I would be safe there and I found that the mutants mostly stay centered in the city.

It was already nightfall by the time I had reached the city and now the empty darkness of the harbor was starting to make me itch. The only keeping my feeling of being alone at bay was the constant sound of waves calmly crashing up on shore. I pushed open the door to one of the many freight containers and rolled the bike inside carving an A on the side of the metal of the door to remember where it was. Then I was off.

I took to the roof tops in search of anything that could lead me back to my clan. I started off with the thought in my head that they wouldn't stray too far from the hospital, but as every warehouse skylight turned up nothing, I soon began to doubt my theory. I was out wandering around for so long that the sun began to peek up at me over the skyscrapers on the other side of the city. As I sat and watched it rise over the broken city the hues of oranges played about my eyes, dancing under the early morning heat. I had spent the majority of the night looking for any signs that the foot clan was still in the city, my restless hunt left me empty handed, with sore legs and a jumbled mind as to what would happen next. Maybe the purple dragons were still around, I would go there next if the mutants didn't kill me first. They had a habit of sticking around the clueless gang members, easy meal I guess.

* * *

><p>As I hurdled roof tops with my remaining strength I couldn't help but let my mind wander to all the people I had seen coming in the gates to the city. There was no doubt they would see the blood and bones scattered along the side-walks. They would see the mutants, the destructions, the horrifying image of a once sleepless city fallen under the spell of a long dark slumber, never to full wake again. It was a mess here, and a mistake to come back. As I watched the sun rise higher and higher into the sky I felt as if my whole life I had been flying too close to the sun, and like Icarus in my old high-school mythology textbook, I would soon face my downfall. It was a morbid thought, but it was true. Cheating death was my specialty, but it would soon catch up to me.<p>

I pushed my legs farther an farther over the grey buildings, never looking back, never looking down. I was reaching the point where my body was starting to give up on me and I knew I had to get some sleep or else I'd be stranded on the rooftops to fall victim to the merciless mutants. I was running on zero hours of sleep but my eyes stayed open and my heart beat drummed in my ribcage, my legs said otherwise. Maybe it was the notion of needing to find someone I knew, or maybe I was just running from what I didn't want to realize.

One, I was alone again in this huge city.

Two, I was in the city, and so was Raphael, and now I had to find him before he found me and possibly killed me.

Raphael had turned me into a monster inside of his head, even if he didn't know I was alive I believe that hate is still fueled, especially since he hasn't been around anyone to really keep him down to earth. He was alone, Leo was alone, and now I was alone. Maybe this is how we all fit together, being alone was our forte.

I found my way over to the fire escape and easily lowered myself down onto the rusty steps. I quickly pushed open a window and slid inside. Inside it looked as if the apartment had been untouched by the invasion, there was beautiful furniture and it looked like everything else had been shipped out with whoever had lived here before excluding a few books on the shelf, some stray magazines, an ashtray next to an open case of cigars, and a few throw blankets. As I inspected the apartment complex and all of it's rooms including the hallways and the floor below I came to the conclusion hat no one had been in here, it was just me. If I never did find Raph, or Leo, or even the clan I could sit out the rest of my days here. I laughed to myself as I went through the cabinets, _Maybe April and everyone could come visit me in my new penthouse. _My mind envisioned a life a few years down the road where Mikey would be cooking something delicious over the oven tops and Aril and Don playing with the kids in the living room. As I filled the room with these images my eyes wandered to the corner of the room, closest to the fire escape window. A lean dark shadow stood there, cigar in one hand the other arm crossed against his chest looking out over the noisy city. A douche-bag smirk played across his face as smoke blew out his nostrils from the exotic cigar.

"Ya know Al?" He says to me in a low voice that makes my heart skip a beat..."Let's get out of this place, I'm sick of livin here. Let's head out to the farmhouse for a while, You mind April?"

"Go ahead, you could live there for all I care, we'll stay here." April said winking at me. "Just don't come back with another set of these two" Don said trying to contain Oliver.

When I looked back over to the figure in the corner the smirk was gone. " I just need some time to think straight." He said taking another puff of the cigars.

I started to involuntarily walk over to the corner where I knew in reality nothing was there waiting for me. Through my eyes I looked up into the shadow's face, he was still staring out the window. "Let's go, we can leave any tie we want, run away with me." He said under his breath knowing I was standing right beside him. He looked down at me exposing me to those bright green eyes that followed my every move. I felt the blood rising to my cheeks as I stood under his gaze, he was terrifying but he could be gentle and I was lucky enough to have known that side of him.

"Please..." He said, the smell of the cigar rolling off of him right into my nose. I liked the smell, it reminded me of my Uncle, he too used to smoke and as I little girl I grew accustomed to the smell.

I knew in my mind he wasn't really here it was just my imagination, but in he back of my mind I wanted him here. I wanted everyone here so I wouldn't have to shake this trance and walk back into the realization the apartment was empty and I couldn't find the people I needed right now.

As April, Don and the kids faded away into the darkness of the apartment one figure stayed behind, fading slowly, green eyes piercing through me as I was once again alone. I slumped back against the wall f the corner and let my fingertips wander over the cool glass of the window imagining a view of bustling streets and jammed traffic. As My eyes drifted to the horizon of the rooftops something caught me eyes, it was a figure standing on a raised ledge of a rooftop in the distance. I wanted to pursue this figure, it could be a foot solider, but as my eyelids threatened to fall shut forever, I knew I had to get some sleep.

When I woke up the next morning on the white sofa it smelled as if someone had been smoking the cigars that had been left open of the coffee table in front of me, but maybe the smell had been absorbed into the couch cushions from past smokers who lived here, where I had my nose pressed all night. It smelled like our furniture in North Dakota, my Uncles favorite recliner reeked of those things but I grew to love it.

I sat up on the couch letting the blood rush through my veins as I stood. I hadn't gotten the best sleep in the world but I needed to get to the roofs, I had to start looking again. I sifted through the cabinets of the kitchen until I came across an unopened box of Ritz crackers and a few bags of lays. I broke open the first roll of crackers and slung my bo and gun over my shoulder. My hair had managed to stay in it's bun so I left it as I pulled myself out of the window onto the fire escape. The crackers were a little stale but I ate them, it was really my only source of food. Everything April had given me was in small portions, and me having no self control ate everything already.

As I climbed up onto the roof I looked around, the sun was already up and the air was getting warm, it must be a little before eleven. I finished off the crackers and headed off over the roof tops. I had to find something today, I couldn't go back to that apartment empty handed.

As the hours passed on I would stop occasionally to rest and look out over the city. Sometimes I could hear the distant noise of the cars driving around the streets and remembered there were people coming back to the city now. I wondered if anyone had come across the mutants yet...

Behind me I heard something shuffling around, at first I thought it was a mutant but as I turned I saw the figure I had watched last night on the rooftops. It wasn't a mutant from what I could tell, it looked like a man in patrol gear and he was really moving across the roof tops. I quickly got to my feet and took off on the rooftops across from him, he didn't see me so there was no need to go invisible and it looked like he was focused on something else, something important. I ran as fast as I could hurdling over gaps and railings but I couldn't keep up with him, I could only hope to follow his path until he stopped.

Ahead I could hear other noises, maybe that's what he was headed for. I crossed over to the side of the rooftops I had seen the figure on and continued to follow his trail, running as fast as I could. I wasn't paying attention to what part of the city I was in, but when I heard the rush of the ocean tides I knew we had reached the edge of the city. It was another harbor in a different part of the city, not the one where I had stashed my bike. I slowed down to a brisk walk as I looked for this man, I couldn't see him. Maybe he jumped down onto the pavement. As I reached the side of the roof I looked down, searching for the noises I had heard earlier and the man I had followed here.

Below me were the purple dragons emptying out a large shipping container. On a stacked container across from them was the man, perched in the shadows unseen by the gang, but I saw him, and when he looked up he saw me. I couldn't see through the mask of his helmet he had on but I could feel him looking right through me. I slid my hood up as he returned his watchful eye to the activity below, what was he up to...

Suddenly he jumped from his perch and landed right in the middle of the gang members and I watched as their expressions turned from confused to rage in a matter of figuring out who had disrupted them, it looked like they knew the man from past run-ins.

I watched as some of the purple dragons drew small daggers, even one with a pistol, while others took off through the maze of containers. The man took out two chain like weapons I knew I had seen somewhere before. Before I could really get a grip of what was going on and why the gang was even at the docks the fight began and I couldn't keep track as the man took down the dragons one hit at a time. It looked easy for him, as if the gang members were just fun to mess around with. I winced as the final purple dragon was brought down and backed into the shadows as the man looked back up at me as if saying I'm next.

I heard him climbing the containers to the roof where sat hidden in the shadows, I could go invisible but, I could also get information from him of the whereabouts of the foot clan.

"I know you're up here." I heard him say in a deep voice as he fiddled around with his weapons. "You can come out now, or try and run, either way I'm still faster and stronger, no escape now." He said in a cocky tone. I could feel the grin on his face, but I was a good fighter, he didn't know that.

"And what if I escape?" I said playing his game.

He chuckled. "Look, there's no way you're getting out of this now, so just come out and let's get through with this, you're on my turf we play by my rules."

I huffed and stepped out from behind the billboard. Up close the man looked stronger than before and terrifying, he was clothed in leather and metal and looked like something out of a movie. It was then when I realized who I had come face to face with.

"You're the nightwatcher." I said narrowing my eyes at him.

He mockingly took a bow. "So you've heard of my work."

"I've seen your work, you're noting but a monster." I spat at him.

He seemed to tense up at the word monster but kept a guarded stance. "Well, you're no saint either, princess of the foot. Where's your scum queen I'd like to put her six feet under."

"How do you know me?"

"Enough chit chat hun, let's see how good you really are. " He said charging me. I quickly rolled out of the way popping up behind him and unsheathing my bo.

"I don't want to fight you." I said circling him, ready for his attack.

"What a shame." He said whipping his chain at me. I tried to avoid it but it wrapped around my ankle and he pulled me down. I could feel every bump of the rooftop as he pulled me in closer to him. I tried to untangle myself but it just wouldn't work. I even tried to swing at him with my staff but he merely grabbed it and threw it to the side of the roof.

I watched as a far off noise caught his attention and I quickly wormed out of the chain and backed up to the opposite side of the roof.

"Look I really don't want to fight." I said dusting the dirt off from where I had bee ruthlessly dragged. "But I'm looking for some answers..."

"Oohh, twenty questions." He said clapping his hands together in an annoyed gesture. He looked a little worn out from his previous fight, but he'd never admit it.

"Who are you, take off that helmet."

"Take off your mask." He said

"Why?"

He only shrugged

"Only if you take off yours."

"Last girl who saw my face fell in love sweetheart, I don't think you wanna go there." His gaze was ice cold, but the look was familiar, I had seen it a few times before. On a roof as the ice cold snow fell, in a tunnel after a rejected apology.

"Where is she now?" I asked pushing my boundaries. He took a step back and crossed his arms, I could almost feel the spiteful glare coming through the lens of the helmet.

"Dead." He said as if choking on his words. "She's dead, and I'm glad she is."

"Why's that?" I said leaning back on the railing looking at him from across the rooftop. If he charged me now I was sure I could easily escape.

"Let me tell you something princess, to love is to destroy."

"Oh, I know."

"Do you now." He said with a sigh.

"In the past two years I've faced death countless times lost my family, found them again only to realize they're all split apart, now I'm out here trying to find the missing pieces of the puzzle but the one I need the most I'm sure I'll never find. Worst part about it is, we used to be in love and now I'm pretty sure when he see's me he's gonna wish I actually died the night he thought I did." I had no idea why I was telling my story to this stranger, but maybe this is just what I needed, someone to listen.

"Pshhh, I used to have a family too until one day I decided I had had enough and left. Best decision of my life, now I'm free to do whatever. No more taking orders."

"Yeah but doesn't it ever get lonely?"

"Eh, I entertain myself with the scum of the city, always had a thing for bashin skulls."

There it was again, maybe it was the words or the way he was standing but I had seen it all before.

"What's your name again?"

"If I told you I'd have to kill you." I could feel the smirk from inside his helmet. In the distance over the water's horizon I could see the sun beginning to drop in the sky creating beautiful shades of red.

I sighed. "It's getting late I should go. Thank you again for sparing my life." I said sarcastically with a grin.

Before I could turn to leave I heard a low growl from behind me. I turned to see two cougar like mutants on the rooftops across from me, and before I could do anything I had realized my bo staff was still half a rooftop away and these things were getting ready to pounce. I quickly drew the gun from my back and my finger pulled down on the trigger, but my aim was ever that good to begin with so I missed by an inch where the bullet hole would've healed anyway.

As the first mutant landed I had already forgotten about the night watcher, he had probably ditched by now anyway. I struggled as my mind raced back and forth and razor sharp claws bore into my skin. I tried punching, kicking, nothing worked. I was losing blood quick, and the exhaustion from these past few days was choosing now to take it's toll on me. By the time I watched the second mutant land on the rooftop in front of me, my legs had buckled and my vision swayed. Before my body had a chance sweep me off into the darkness like it had so many other times, I felt the weight of the mutant lifted off of me, and two arms lock under me. The feeling of being weightless was the last thing that crossed my mind before I drifted off into the void between life and death.

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><p>I woke to the sensation of warmth all around me and my eyes slowly opened to what I knew would be a horrifying sight...or so I thought. I was in a large California king bed looking out onto the balcony of a skyscraper in the city. It was no doubt the city because you could smell the trademark toxins flowing in through the window. I was wrapped in blankets but for summer I was a bit cold, and as soon as I tried lifting myself out of the bed it felt like the claws from the mutants were boring in through my skin all over again. I slowly un raveled myself from the blankets to asses the damage. Three tiger strip-like gashes ran along my left arm sporting the blood red color I was so used to seeing on myself and in my dreams.<p>

_Nothing I can't handle..._

As I scooted myself to the edge of the bed I realized my foot clan patrol garb was gone, replaced by an old flannel button down and a ripped pair of leggings. My hair was still pulled back into it's bun I had out it up in but now it looked more like and animal was living in it. I sighed looking in the long mirror across from the bed at my summer tanned face, my freckles had been magnified by the sun and my hair turned lighter from long days out on the roof tops.

In that moment I had been so caught up in my gaze to realize someone was knocking on the door to the strange bedroom I had found myself in. A question reappeared in my head, one I had asked myself one too many times. Where was I?

I carefully walked over to the door, It was big and the handle was made of ivory. As I turned the knob and pulled it open I found myself face to face with Talon. He looked worn out but the smile on his face told me he was happy to see me, but not in this condition.

"Morning sunshine." He said, quickly slipping in the room and shutting the door behind him.

I was still in shock as to who exactly I was expecting. From everything I've went through it definitely was not Talon. I smiled a huge smile and did my best to wrap my arms around his long torso, even if I had just been attacked by a mutant I couldn't be more grateful to wind up in the arms of my best friend. I felt his arms wrap around me as he sighed placing his chin on the top of my head.

"We need to talk Al."

I unhinged myself from him. "First of all where the hell did you guys go?! I came back to the city and I looked everywhere." I plopped down on the other side of the bed facing the open door to the balcony. I let out a deep breath as I felt my body sink into he mattress.

"That's the thing. We all split up, the purple dragons went against the treaty and we were attacked unexpectedly and unprepared."

He sighed allowing me to come to my own conclusion as to what happened since it looked to hard for him to explain. After a moment of silence he spoke again. "There was a lot of blood spilled, but most of us made it out alive, we had to split up through. The strongest ran small groups to different posts we had set up in a situation like this."

"Where is everyone else..." I said staring out the balcony door.

"Grant has a post about twenty blocks over and he's the closest that I know of. Don't worry Karai's fine, but I haven't heard from Pepper or Jax...Murph is with a separate post farther out."

He walked over to me and sat down on the bed next to me crossing his arms. "I was worried you wouldn't be able to find anyone, we're all so split apart and far from the hospital, but last night you were dropped off here all tore up and I almost burst out in tears just knowing you were alive, well partially like usual." He said smirking nudging my shoulder.

"Did you see who dropped me off?"

"No they just gave us three knocks on the window and they were gone."

"I think it was the night watcher." I said softly remembering the way he stood and spoke, it was so familiar I couldn't stop thinking about it now.

Talon seemed to tense up at my hypothesis. "That guy's nothing but a murderer, he would've killed you."

"Well here I am, am I dead yet?" I say holding out my arms for emphasis.

"Trust me Al, whoever that scum is, he's nothing but a monster."

Without warning a memory flashed back into my head and I shut my eyes getting used to my new ability. At April's I had found out I didn't need to have another person there to see my memories, they would recall themselves on their own to me.

_I traced the crack in his shell with my nail, it must've been a sensitive spot because I felt him shudder. I found my way up to the back of his neck, tugging at his mask's tails. As I went to untie it I felt two large hands stop me._

_"Alex, no."_

_"Why not?"_

_"You don't get it, my mask is the only thing making me look less of a monster. If I take it off...you'll see how much of a freak I really am."_

_"I think, everyone has a little bit of monster in them, don't you think."_

This memory was a message, but I had yet to understand it's meaning. I repeated my words back to Talon as he stood there with a dumb look on his face trying to understand what I was doing.

"I think everyone has a little monster in them, don't you think Tal." I said running my hand along the champagne colored curtains that drifted on their hangers slowly in the mid-morning wind. I walked out the open doors to the balcony and realized I was in the heart of the city, surrounded by tall buildings that looked as if they could pierce the sky.

Talon joined my side at the cemented railing. We were in a beautiful building, and on one of the top floors since I could barley make out anything on the streets below. "I agree but some just learn how to contain it better than others." He said, but I wasn't listening I was thinking about the night watcher and what he had said to me.

"Do you think to love is to destroy?" I asked gazing out over the grey city.

He sighed, not knowing where I had taken the conversation. "I guess. I mean imagine falling in love ten times over just to find out the person you love, loves someone else. That could probably destroy you, inside and out."

I looked at him, when did he become so philosophical and understanding. "You sound like you've been through it before." I said playfully nudging him. He just smiled, but something was bothering him. I decided it was best to leave it be.

Eventually Talon left me alone on the balcony and that gave me some time to think things through.

First thing, everything I had learned about the night watcher seemed oddly familiar, and none the less terrifying. In a way he reminded me of the way Raphael used to act, so cocky, and full of fight. I needed to know why he spared my life if he had taken so many before me, I had to find him. I would go out tonight and hopefully he would come to me.

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><p><em><strong>I'm sorry if this chapter dragged on a little, and frankly, I haven't introduced Raph yet because I don't know how to bring him back into the flow of things with his new supposed personality. Also I haven't been able to update in forever (Please forgive me!) Because of midterms and school stuff but I'll make sure I get the next chapter out a little quicker. I forced myself to wrap this chapter up where it did because it was so draining to write and I apologize, also please feel free to mentally correct my grammar if I didn't read it over that well, I kind of just skimmed. And thank you guys so SO much for all the reviews, they really do help to keep this story going and I love reading what you guys have to say, plus I really needed that little boost in confidence. (: <strong>_


	10. Chapter 9

_**Hey guys! I hope you really enjoy this chapter it really took a while to develop and there were points when I almost gave up completely, it was frustrating to write but I think I got it all down. Oh, and the scene with Alex and Talon in the beginning with her memory is supposed to be confusing so don't think to hard about how it's put together, it's supposed to be in fragments... Anyways, please let me know what you think, and I really enjoy seeing tons of reviews because honestly? who wouldn't? So get ready for the ending, hope it lives up to your guys' standards (: **_

_**Enjoy.**_

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><p>Chapter Nine.<p>

"Ready?" I whisper.

"Yeah." He says as I watch his eyes fall shut, shortly mine follow and we are both encased in the world of my mind, awaiting what it's going to show us today.

Images of Casey and I in the lair flashed back to me in small segments as Casey's voice rang through my ears in jumbled sentences, this wasn't like my other memories. This one was a jumbled mess of words and images I'd have to sort through on my own.

_"What's up Al." he said eyes still in his comic._

_"What have you two been up to?" I said noticing Raphael had walking into the lair with him, but chose to go straight to the lab where his brothers had congregated. _

_"Bashing skulls like usual."_

_"What! We're the vigilant heroes of the big apple it's what we do Al." he said giving me a slight chuckle._

_ "Me and Raph, we've been sneakin out to go to this abandoned warehouse. We found this old bike and we've been fixin it up to run good in there."_

_"Don't worry Al, I'll protect him for you." He said smirking at me._

_"Yeah, I think you need someone to protect you from each other." I laughed_

_"Listen Alex...Raph, he's getting really into this vigilante stuff."_

_"He wouldn't leave his brothers behind." I said trying to convince myself._

_"We'll find out I guess."_

I opened my eyes to see Talon with his eyes still closed trying to figure out what I had just showed him. "It's like your memories are sifting through themselves to find anything that is relevant to what is happening now." He said slowly opening his eyes with a questioning look on his face.

It had been three days since I found myself here with Talon by chance, and after the first day I decided it would be best if I told Talon everything that had happened since the moment I rode away of the bike in search of April with Casey. I had showed him my memories, of April, of the turtles, and even ones of Master Splinter. He was shocked at first when I had told him about everything that happened, but understood under the circumstances of the current situation. I think he was most controversial over my acclaimed love for a mutant turtle. "Humans were meant to be with humans Alex." He had said to me after opening his eyes from the world inside my memories of the red clad turtle...

"That could be true." I said tracing circles in the granite countertop with my fingernails.

"Casey took you to the bike you left here on, right? He knew exactly where it would be?"

"Well, yeah." I said feeling the headache from our session bubbling up right above my eyebrows. I ran my cool hand across my forehead to try and stop it from coming but it didn't work, it never worked.

"The bike Casey took you to is the bike Raphael and him worked on when you were living with them. The memory is putting it right out there for you...I mean it even makes the connection about how Raphael was going to eventually go solo!" Talon said clapping his hands together to award himself for, in his mind, being the smartest person in the room. It was strange watching him decipher my memories like he would his favorite television show.

I just shook my head, he was right...the bike was the same one but this got me no where closer to being able to find Raph. I sighed as I fell back onto the chestnut leather couch and closed my eyes as the smell of the texture drifted up all around me. I picked through anything Casey had said related to the bike that could've meant anything or point me to where Raphael was now. But everything he said was pretty much under his breath and something snide or sarcastic. I then realized Casey had no intention of ever helping me search for Raph. Something had happened between the two that he didn't tell me about, and now I wish I had pried into the past two years of Casey's life a little more.

"Maybe you should just give up looking for him, go find Leo, he seems cooler anyway." Talon said while he fumbled around in the kitchen with lunch, there was hardly any food here and I made a mental note that we needed to do a run for some later. Talon had developed a sort of connection to Leo through my memories and stories of him, he thought the two were alike and I couldn't help but agree that they would've probably been friends...

"You know I couldn't do that." I said leaning my head back to concentrate on something other than my fast approaching headache. It would be like finishing a puzzle only to find out that a piece had been missing this whole time, nothing would fill it's spot nor take it's place leaving the puzzle incomplete. That's what a family without Raphael would be like. Incomplete.

"You don't think he's still in love with you right?" Talon said a little too harsh for my current mood.

"I don't know. Guess we'll have to find him first." I said almost mumbling. The truth was I had been harvesting some small glimmer of hope in my heart that the mutant turtle still held feeling for me, but I knew better than to make wagers like that anymore.

"I mean, he couldn't give you a normal life even if he wanted to. Wouldn't you want regular looking kids running around and a normal looking husband to wake up to every morning? Preferably a handsome husband" He said winking at me.

Now I was beginning to become agitated and I let the feeling bubble up inside me instead of just blowing off his remarks like I used to. "Do you ever think I would be able to live a normal fucking life anyway?!" I said letting my voice raise. He just looked at me as if I was missing the point of what he said. I didn't stay long enough for an explanation though, I stormed up the clear glass stair case and slammed the double doors behind me that led to the room I had unfortunately wound up in three days ago. Why couldn't anyone understand my life, was it because it was such a jumbled mess, or were people just that ignorant.

I opened up the doors to the balcony and let the air roll in, it was almost July the time was beginning to blur as my life became more hectic by the minute. I looked to the rooftops as always in search of my masked hero, but he was never there. As the days drew on I kept looking but the rooftops remained empty as I started to get more agitated by Talon's presence rather than appreciate it. Maybe it was because he thought he had some purpose now that the clan was divided, he saw himself above me as my leader instead of the best friend I so needed right now. Which was ironic because technically I was his leader but apparently he had forgotten my status in the clan. I so wished I could've ended up with Grant, maybe even that prissy Caleb, but Talon would have to do for now.

As I closed myself in my room for was felt like the hundredth time I decided one last peek out on the balcony couldn't hurt. I had a red sundress on I had found in one of the closets and it surprisingly fit quite snug around my body, making me look like an actual girl for once since I had been out of the clan garb. I let my dress flow in the midnight air of summer, July was here.

And just as simple as that, he was too.

I saw him, perched atop a raised ledge on a roof like a bird ready for flight a few streets over. Although I had just caught sight of him, he was already looking at me. I could sense it all through my body as I felt my heart skip a beat. Suddenly I wished I hadn't changed out of my patrol garb so I could run off after him, but as soon as I was distracted by my own thoughts he was gone. I looked back to see the perch empty and for some reason my heart fell. I had lost another chance to speak to him.

I sighed and crawled up on my huge bed sitting crisscross on the plush mattress letting my body sink in. While scouting around the complex I had found a bundle of books and carried them silently back to my room before I could be questioned by Talon who had, in his head, become the new justice system and needed to know what I was doing at all hours of the day and night. But tonight he was scouting for food with a few others and I was left in peace. I opened a page of the book that sat atop the pile I had found. The hobbit, one of Don's favorites. I always told him I would get around to reading it, that and Lord of the rings, might as well start now.

As I read through the every first chapter I was pulled from Middle earth and back to New York city as I heard something out on my balcony. I sat up in my bed and peered out through the open doors, only to find the shielded figure standing there cloaked in shadows, leaning up against the railing with his arms crossed.

He looked as if he were waiting for me to join him from his body language so I reluctantly slid off my bed pulling at the hem of the sundress. As my bare feet hit the cool floor I pondered for a moment if it would be a good idea to go out there with no weapons, but my body pulled me to him anyways.

"Red was always my favorite color." He said, I could feel his eyes on me and I felt the blood heat up in my veins.

"Why did you save me from those mutants, I'm sure you would've equally enjoyed watching them tear me apart limb from limb." I said standing in the frame of the balcony keeping a guarded stance.

He just chuckled. "Well that would've been a show, but everyone deserves second chances right? And that day you were the lucky I was in the vigilante mood." His voice muffled under his helmet.

"Why are you here?" I said, my voice coming off a little bitter. "Have I peeked an interest in your life of pillaging and bashing skulls?"

His stance shifted a little and he turned to face the streets. I stayed behind him.

"You remind me of someone...Though I haven't' come to the conclusion as to why I haven't killed you yet."

"Well maybe if you got to know me a little better, we could be allies." I said with a little hesitation.

"I don't take well to other people, I work alone."

"Well then maybe it's time you let someone in."

"The last person I let in destroyed me, made me like this."

I sighed leaning up against the frame. "No, you made yourself like this." I said watching his arm twitch.

"Is that so." He said muttering.

"You had the choice of two pathways and you chose the darker, more isolated one, leading you to your ultimate demise in a world where you see every living soul as your enemy." I said smiling inwardly at my choice of words, it sounded awfully poetic.

"What do you know." He muttered through his helmet.

"I've been there before, I held a dagger up to my wrist and almost said goodbye."

"What stopped you." He spat at me, only forming a smile on my face. There it was again, that "kiss my ass attitude" and the bad boy stance. I had seen it and heard it before.

"Let me show you." I said walking up to him placing a hand on his shoulder, and before I knew it I was sucked back into my memories and he was there too.

_I walked back into Raphs room and grabbed one of the daggers on his nightstand. I took the dagger in my hands and held it to my wrist looking at my reflection through the gleaming metal of the blade.. I wanted to die. I hated my life, being all alone. Something stopped me from pressing the dagger into my wrist, but I sunk to the ground and started to cry. I pushed harder on the dagger watching blood appear. "It'll be over soon" I said to myself watching blood pool on the floor beside me as I let out small whimpers of pain muffled by my own tears. _

_"Alex, go to be- Alex!" Raph jumped off his bed and knocked the dagger out of my hands in one quick swipe._

_"Just let me do it! Please!" I cried. I kept begging and pleading to just end it all, to take me from this life but I felt strong arms wrap around me telling me to shut up. _

_Raph just held me as tight as he could in his arms and we sat on the ground like that until I gave up._

_"Alex why would you even try that!? Are you nuts?"_

_"If you had seen the things I've seen you would want this too."_

_He picked me up and set me on his bed. He grabbed a blanket from the bed and ripped a piece off tying in around my cut. I watched him as he did this, he was so focused. He must've done this a thousand times when his brothers were injured. When he was done he looked at me with sad eyes._

_"Please don't ever do that again." he said._

_"Why you wouldn't want to take the blame since I'm your responsibility?" I shot at him ignoring the hot tears running down my face._

_"No! just shut up Alex. You don't get it..."_

_I gave up trying to fight him ad let out a small sigh. _

_"Alex, you have a new family now whether you like it or not and you're not getting rid of us so easily." he said._

As I opened my eyes back up to the six something feet of metal and leather before me, I realized I had left the man virtually shocked. He didn't move but he turned his head to face me, and for the first time I thought I could see his eyes, green and full of pain. I leaned up on the railing next to him, I don't know why but in these past few moments of just being alone on the balcony made me more comfortable around him, I could tell he had no intention of hurting me.

It looked like he was going to say something, but before he could I heard a loud crash and Talon burst through the door with his cross bow in hand and didn't hesitate to send an arrow right in between us. Before I could protest Talon prepared to fire again but his target was already gone. Just like that he slid away into the darkness again.

"What the HELL TALON!" I screamed dislodging the arrow that had landed right next to me. "Have you gone completely insane?!" I lunged at him trying to knock the cross bow out of his arms.

"Al-Alex!" He said doing his best to dodge me. "I heard voices and though you were being attacked!" He yelled.

"What!" I yelled back at him standing there glaring daggers at him. I set him ablaze in my mind, but I'm sure from my eyes he could tell what I was thinking.

"I shouldn't have left you alone, that man is a killer, and a monster." He said simply out of breath from my previous rant of terror. I just shot him a disgusted look and told him to get out before he could explain anything else.

* * *

><p>It was both painful and beautiful to be around someone as broken as me for once. Talon was always so full of energy and he used to be my best friend, now he was like my parole officer, making sure I didn't leave my room or hangout on my balcony after hours. I couldn't talk to him about anything anymore without being questioned or yelled at. The night watcher had been through just as much as me, but where I was dragged down the path of "This is your chance to turn your life around" unconsciously, he had been forced to make the choice himself, and being so broken and overcome with anger, chose the darkest path he could submerge himself in.<p>

Those green eyes though, they were familiar and captivating. The very green eyes that used to send shivers down my spine and force the blood to my cheeks. The eyes that watched me as I walked down the hallways with his brother, or when it was two in the morning and I couldn't fall asleep. The green eyes that haunted my dreams and chased me away from reality, the reality that Raphael was no longer Raphael, and I didn't even notice.

I curled up in the soft bed that could easily hold four to five people and grabbed up the hobbit again and started to read from where I had left off. I hadn't gotten far before my mind started to wander and I couldn't concentrate on the words on the page in front of me anymore. So I put the book down on the page I had left off on and slid off the edge of the bed letting my feet brave the chill of the hard wood floors. I walked to the bathroom that was connected to my room and with my palms pressing up against the basin counter top I stared at my reflection in the mirror realizing how matted my hair was and how drained my face looked. I could go for a hot bath right now.

I turned to find a nicely sized tub that would have to do. I made sure to turn the heat all the way up, if the water even ran here anymore. Talon told me he and the other foot soldiers had fixed everything, so let's hope he wasn't bluffing just to make me feel more at home. I cranked the knob all the way to the right and water sputtered out, I smiled for the first time since Talon busted down my door, seconds later hot water ran across my palm. I searched the cabinets until I found a big bottle of body wash and poured some into the tub making the bathroom smell like lavender. As the water reached the brim of the tub I shut it off and slid in feeling the water scaling my body, maybe the heat could melt away everything I had ever known and I could make a fresh start. I laughed at the idea, knowing with my luck I'd never escape the hole I had dug myself into since I arrived here on a train almost two and a half years ago now.

As my body got used to the warmth of the water my mind began to wander again. I wondered what April was up to right now, maybe Don was up in his lab as the night drew on working on something that he had calculated in his head a million times, or maybe he was up in the kids rooms reading to them from Lord of the rings. I smiled little at the thought. Mikey would be making a snack right now, and April might be sitting on the couch making a list of things they were running short on, or watching the tv broadcast about the city. She had always wanted to be a journalist in the city...

I was pulled out of my trance by a clap of thunder in the distance and the sudden patter of rain against the side of the building. It was both peaceful and disarming at the same time listening to the noise and feeling the ground shake beneath you. Storms in the city have always been bad. As the water became lukewarm I drained it and pulled myself out of the tub with my good arm, and wrapped my body up in a nearby towel.

It was late, and I found a pair of flannel pajamas in the closet. This must've been a girls room because all of her clothes fit me, and looked like something someone my age would typically war in the city. It was a little unnerving though as to why all of her clothes were left behind. As I grabbed the pj's from the shelf a thought emerged in my head and it seemed to be urging me.

_Not now,_ I told myself. _It's storming out are you nuts?_ but the thought still did not leave my mind and I figured it had to be someone else's doing, putting this thought in my head because there was no way in hell I would actually convince myself to go out in this pouring rain and lightning. But I was, I dropped the pajams and grabbed my patrol gear getting it on as fast as I could. I opened the balcony doors to pouring rain and without looking back I slid down the fire escape not even bothering to shut the doors behind me. Surely Talon would have a heart attack when he learned I had went out in this storm against his word and also injured, but then maybe he'd learn he doesn't own me.

As my feet touched the pavement of the sidewalk I let my breath catch up to me, my hair was still sopping wet from my bath but that was the last of my inconveniences since it was pouring down rain and my entire body was soon shivering and protesting my poor choice to go out. I crossed the street finding a fire escape through the illumination of the lightning and starting my ascent for the skies. I soon reached the roof only to ask myself why I was even out here. Maybe I needed to feel the rush of the open world again after only being cooped for two weeks, or maybe I let my mind linger a little too long on who this night watcher really was, and why Talon was so quick to shoo him away.

I stood in the pouring rain until I caught the outline of a pack of mutants not far off in the distance and let my body take over. My legs ached as they hurdled roof tops and pushed me farther away from Talon and his band of puppets. I couldn't stand him anymore. What had come over him? I guess even the slightest bit of power can turn you awry. As I ran I didn't really pay attention to where I was heading, I knew I had to get far enough away from the mutants, but I also had no clue where I was exactly in the city and with no way of re-routing myself I was pretty much fucked. My only hope was to, out of some coincidence, run into the one person I was looking for. You know, the one sheathed in metal who reeked of dried blood and leather? He drew me to him like a moth to flame, an attraction I couldn't quite explain since being around him brought on an array of emotions, mostly anger towards his ignorance, but sometimes curiosity to learn more. I began to curse myself for even letting a simple thought take me over until in the illumination of the lighting I saw a figure up ahead leaning under a half beaten billboard advertising toothpaste and I felt a grin creep up onto my face.

As I drew towards him he perked up at the sound of my footsteps and drew his chain weapons and stood firm waiting for the mutants he thought were lurking in the shadows. He seemed to back off a ways when he saw me, as if terrified by my unannounced presence. It was like he was seeing a ghost...

"What are you doing out here? It's storming go home." He said a little harshly. I could hardly hear him under the thunder and patter of the down pour.

"I don't have a home anymore." I said back watching his figure come in and out of focus as the lightning struck around us. He could easily slip away without me even noticing, it was pitch black out here after all.

"Leave before you get hurt kid." He spat at me whipping his chain in his hand, but his tone was guarded and cracked at times, he hesitated when he swung the chain up and around his arms and I think I knew why. April had been right, mostly about how dark his mind had become, but the nightmares were just stories played out in my head about what could happen when I came face to face with the shadowed figure that lurked in the back of my mind. I had created a monster out of pure ignorance to the fact that he might be just as scared as I was right now, because I knew he knew.

"You wont hurt me. You saved me from the pack of mutants that day but you hardy knew me, why?"

"I already told you." He said backing away, into the comfort of the shadows.

"Tell me, night watcher, was it really because I reminded you of someone, or because I was someone." I said letting my voice reach the brink of a whisper as my sentence rolled off my tongue. I felt a knot forming at he back of my throat as the ran pelted my body. If I let the tears come now, at least it would go unnoticed. "For two years you have haunted my dreams, making you out to be a monster, tell me have you not suffered the same fate? I saw it in your eyes when I showed you the memory, you were scared." I pulled back my hood and let the force of the rain water log my hair yet again.

"You don't know anything!" He bellowed making my heart skip a beat.

"My mask slid off when you carried me back to Talon, but you didn't want to believe what you saw. You told yourself I was just another foot solider but everything about me brought you back to the girl in the sewers. Didn't it."

"STOP!" He cried stomping his way over to me, the lighting outlining his menacing stance made my body want to run for cover but I held my ground we came chest to chest. I'm sure he could hear my heart ready to thump right out of my chest at this point, but his ragged breathing told me he was just as ready to run away as I was.

"You are not alive! I watched you die!" He yelled in my face pushing me back like I was nothing but an illusion.

"I lived, I'm here!" I screamed back. "This isn't another dream, you're awake and I'm real."

"No, no, no...no.." He mumbled as his knees sank to the ground before me. In the background another pang of lightning struck lighting up the whole sky, and if it weren't for the current situation I was in I would stand in awe of it's beauty, but now I couldn't tell if I wanted to jump off the side of the building or let myself face my madness like Leo had. My life had certainly taken a few rough turns along the way.

I stood before the sunken figure before me, even on his knees he was no puny thing. Carefully I took a handle on his helmet and slowly lifted it off his head. He seemed like a mess, and I didn't even think he realized what I had done until it was too late. I could feel my heartbeat in my throat and even from the rain my palms were sweaty with a slight shake. I let the helmet drop to the ground as my mind caught up with itself.

Two tails of a mask flapped in the wind, no longer held down by the helmet, and under the brightness of the lightning I saw red.

"Please don't shut me out." I said tears welling up in my eyes from the disbelief that my assumptions were actually correct for once.

With his eyes still closed, I sank down in front of him not knowing where to go from here.

"Raphael..." I said in a choked whisper.

At the sound of his name he slowly opened his eyes and for the first time I think he actually saw me for who I really was. Green eyes dulled by the pain and suffering of two years wandering alone washed over me like tidal waves and it felt as if in this moment nothing else mattered, not Talon discovering I was gone, not my aching body shivering in the chill of the hard rain, not even the downpour that had us kneeling in an inch of water.

"Alex..." He said choking on his own tears as we sat in the lightning storm together, realizing for the fist time we wouldn't have to wander alone anymore, and that the nightmares and sleepless nights would cease to exist, and the monsters we had created and bred in our minds over the past years had been nothing more than our greatest fears festering inside of us, wanting us to run scared.

But finding the figure behind the monster in my head was only the easy part.

As I sat and cried looking at him in awe, thinking _how did I ever get by without you..._sudden swirls of blue, deep and glorious danced along the back of my eyelids and all through my train of thought and all I could hear was one voice speaking to me, but I knew it wasn't Raph's.

_"I wont be so easy to come by."_ It said, and I asked God why couldn't it have only been one brother lost in the darkness of the city.

Now came the hard part.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten.

Raphael's P.O.V

The thunder storms never really bothered him, he actually loved them and so he would sit in the under hang of a billboard for hours until the sun shone again and he went inside to get some sleep. Tonight was no different except for two things, there was lightning this time and it was a little off putting, and he couldn't seem to keep his mind on track. There was a girl he stumbled upon a week ago and she was everything that dwelled in the deepest vault of his mind. His heart told him she had returned and wanted him to be happy, but he had seen enough of the scene that day to know she was dead...at least until he visited her on the balcony. She had touched his shoulder and he was transported inside her memories. How'd she even do that? The scarier thing was that the memory she showed him, was of himself years ago in his old bedroom, and then his heart thumped a little harder and he couldn't find any words to speak anymore and he almost thanked that prissy little foot solider for almost shooting him because it gave him a reason to slip away into the darkness yet again.

His heart went into overdrive as he scaled the rooftops in front of him, he tried to erase what had just happened from his memory but it stayed there, playing over and over again. It was him, he saw himself in her memory, and there was only one other girl besides April that knew of his existence or even shared memories with him. But that girl was dead.

He didn't stop running until his legs gave out in front of him and he sat in the now pouring rain debating if God could've dealt him a shittier hand. Why was this happening to him? Surely he'd have to avoid that area for some time before he could regain himself. She was dead, she wasn't coming back.

It wasn't until a while later in the dead of night with the lightning lighting up the skies that he knew his in his heart it was her, but his brain still held the reigns for he had not thought with his heart since that nightmarish day over two years ago. And then like a nightmare she was there, standing across the rooftop from him illuminated by the bursts of lightning. He knew he could slip away but his feet stayed planted and more than anything he wanted to throw himself over the side of the building because he knew there was no way he would be able to erase this from his memory.

She called out to him, and he told her to leave, to go away and never come back. He didn't want her here and he didn't want to stand on the same ground as her. He even put on his most terrifying aura and tried to scare her off but she held her ground and tortured him with her words. She spat at him the facts of the weeks past evens and all of the truths hidden within the knowing glances and small talks. Under the mask she had figured him out.

It was then he gave up, he went to her an sunk to his knees before the very monster that would kill him every night in the same dream and he wished this were just another dream, because reality was hitting him harder than any blow he had ever taken before. When he looked at her he knew she was going through the same thing, but she was virtually stronger than him, for she stood her ground longer and didn't break down until the very end. But he couldn't take it. As she slid his helmet off he felt the rain pour over his smooth head and felt it slowly soak into his mask. He felt her hands run over the tail ends of the red cloth and listened to her breathing, it was slow, calming, but her heartbeat was erratic and her hands shook. And when she spoke his name every single inch of him shattered into a million pieces because the last thing he heard that voice say was I love you, and the last thing he had seen before they all went to what should've been their doom's, was her face and the freckles that danced under her eyes an over her nose. And now the freckles were darker and her voice sounded even sweeter than before.

Standing before him in the downpour was the girl he had saved from the Kraang all those years ago, and though to him it felt like only yesterday because everyday he took another breath and woke up alone in the stillness of the dark city, he replayed the memories of her over and over. Heart breaking every single day. She had grown taller and leaner and her hair was longer now and her eyes, oh her hazel eyes were brighter than ever. But right now they were looking down at him he could tell they were clouded and drained because what would happen now?. Surely life wouldn't pick up where it left off, and he saw the way that foot solider had watched her when he busted down the door, his eyes were full of worry and it was obvious through the years they had a bond with one another, and he loved her without ever telling her.

What was that of love now? He didn't know if his heart could handle that feeling anymore.

He took a deep breath and he felt her body sink down next to him and he looked at her for the first time without the lens of his helmet which created a false sense of security. Now he knew it really was her, not some ghost, not some hellish nightmare. Everything he had ever fought for and lived for in this cruel world he lived in had been preserved in this human body sitting in front of him. He didn't know if he should wrap her up tight in his arms and never let go, or if he should disappear now and save them both the pain of readjusting to life knowing nothing will ever be the same again. So he just sat there and in the illumination of the lightening they locked eyes and he whispered the name he used to scream in his dreams out of terror, but now it sounded soft and delicate and he realized the dreams were just his imagination and everything he had thought before was wrong.

Alex was very much alive, and by the way his skin burned at her touch he knew there was still something there, he just didn't know if it was worth re-kindling in the dangerous world they lived in. Why fall in love just to have it ripped away from you again. It was then the very words he had uttered to her before played like a broken record in his head.

_To love is to destroy._

* * *

><p><strong>I know this was super short, but I thought it would be nice to see someone else's perspective for once. So let me know what you think? What will become of Raph and Alex now? Also I need your guys opinions, what do you think about a hobbitLOTR story? I've loved the story line forever and grew up on the movies. I've even read the Silmarillion and have some ideas for the story. Tolkien created something amazing and I really think it'll be fun to write, but only if I get a yay or nay, I wont write a story nobody will read. If you want message me, if not leave me something in the review box, what should happen next?(: Love you guys**


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